Decisions made within the family have long been recognised as a central obstacle to achieving gender equality, not only in the home, but also in the workplace due to the interdependent relationship between work and family domains. Here we focus particularly on how couple-level work-family decision-making processes influence (non)egalitarian work-family decisions. We draw on a qualitative diary study with 60 participants, comprising 30 heterosexual, dual-earner couples situated in the UK, to examine work-family decision-making in daily practice. Our findings suggest that egalitarian family identities, previously highlighted as important, are necessary but insufficient in enabling egalitarian work-family decisions. Instead, our findings highlight the important role played by the decision-making processes couples engage in, particularly in relation to their frequently habitual nature. Thus, we show how, while family identities held by men and women may be converging, habitual decision-making processes often continue to prevent egalitarian daily arrangements. We introduce the concept of ‘work-family habits’ and develop a novel framework depicting daily work-family decision making processes engaged in by dual-earner couples, revealing how each of these processes can contribute to either more traditional or egalitarian work-family practices.

由于工作和家庭领域之间的相互依存关系，家庭内部做出的决定长期以来被认为是实现性别平等的主要障碍，不仅在家庭中，而且在工作场所也是如此。在这里，我们特别关注夫妻层面的工作家庭决策过程如何影响（非）平等的工作家庭决策。我们对 60 名参与者（其中包括 30 对居住在英国的异性恋、双职工夫妇）进行了一项定性日记研究，以考察日常实践中的工作与家庭决策。我们的研究结果表明，之前强调的平等主义家庭身份很重要，但它对于实现平等的工作家庭决策来说是必要的，但还不够。相反，我们的研究结果强调了决策过程所发挥的重要作用夫妻之间的交往，尤其是与他们的习惯性有关。因此，我们展示了尽管男性和女性持有的家庭身份可能趋同，但习惯性的决策过程往往会继续阻碍平等主义的日常安排。我们引入了“工作-家庭习惯”的概念，并开发了一个新颖的框架，描述双职工夫妇参与的日常工作-家庭决策过程，揭示这些过程如何有助于更传统或更平等的工作-家庭实践。