(In)equal Partners in Their Career, Relationship, and Family Decisions. Book Review: Wong, J. S. (2023). Equal Partners? How Dual-professional Couples Make Career, Relationship, and Family Decisions. Berkeley: University of California Press

Abstract

The review contains basic ideas and findings expressed in the book Equal Partners? How Dual-Professional Couples Make Career, Relationship, and Family Decisions by Jaclyn Wong. The book follows the lives of twenty-one young dual-professional couples over a six-year period. As result, the author describes three work-family pathways — the consistent compromiser pathway, the autonomous actor pathway, and the tending traditional pathway. Comparing these pathways, Wong concludes that three components are necessary to achieve equality in the relationships of dual-career couples: structural changes, cultural attitudes about gender, family, and work, and joint actions of the partners. If there are weaknesses in any of these areas, couples are likely to experience gender inequality in work and family.

Acknowledgments. Support from the Basic Research Program of the National Research University Higher School of Economics is gratefully acknowledged.