sense of fairness even though the men were rarely asked to be responsible for the child

care and were not expected to do housework while they were caring for the children,

representing a very different picture from the responsibilities of the women.

 The coping mechanism of phase or stage was used when considering the fathers'

lack of active involvement with the children. The couples emphasized that the problem

was temporary and changeable, and was a characteristic of this particular phase or stage

in their family development. The couples stated their beliefs that the fathers would

become more equally involved with the children as the children grew. They suggested

that as the children got older and entered school, they would have less contact with their

mothers, leveling out the parents' active involvement. They also expressed that the

fathers would be better able to get involved when the children were able to do activities

in which the fathers could participate, because they stated men are not interested in

activities suitable for babies. The expectation that current inequality would be rectified by

men's increased involvement later seemed to help couples cope with any feelings of

unfairness. The phase or stage coping mechanism was also used when the couples

discussed the wives' primary responsibility for child care and housework as they

described this imbalance as a temporary characteristic of their current life circumstances.

 Myths were used as coping mechanisms when considering that the division of

household labor was unequal. Backett referred to this coping mechanism as myth because

it "required either minimal practical proof, or even no substantive proof at all" (p. 78).

The myths generally took three different forms, with each of the participant couples using

at least one of the three. Couples would express the husband's capability of doing

household chores, noting he was able to do them before, he was willing to do them,