Help whom and help what? Intergenerational co-residence and the gender differences in time use among dual-earner households in Beijing, China

Abstract

An extensive literature has documented the conflict between employment and household responsibilities and its impacts on the gendered patterns of daily activities in dual-earner households. However, most studies have focused exclusively on the division of household labour in nuclear households, with insufficient attention paid to the impact of alternative household strategies such as co-residence with extended family members. This article investigates the extent to which the presence of elderly parents shifts gendered activity patterns and even reduces the gender inequality in time use in urban China. By drawing on an activity diary survey conducted in Beijing in 2012, we compare and contrast the gendered patterns in time use between nuclear family households and extended family households. We find that co-residence mitigates the tension between employment and household responsibilities for women and leads to greater gender equality in the division of household labour and a reduced gender gap in the time spent on employment. However, co-residence only enables women to shift their time allocation from household responsibilities to employment rather than to pursue discretionary activities, and therefore its positive role is limited. We further discuss the policy implications given the limitations of intergenerational co-residence as an individual-based solution for childcare and other social services in transitional urban China.

Married Adults Coresiding with Older Parents: Implications for Paid Work and Domestic Workloads

“…In gender unequal societies, such as China, Japan, and Italy, women living in households with older parents are more likely to stay in paid work (Maurer-Fazio et al, 2011;Sasaki, 2002;Shen et al, 2016;Ta et al, 2018), but see (Yang et al, 2015;Yu & Xie, 2018) for contradicting evidence on China.…”

Intergenerational co-residence and young couple’s time use in China

“…As mentioned above, assistance in domestic work is an important form of downward support. Studies have consistently documented the link between intergenerational co-residence and women's reduced time spent on housework in Australia, the UK, and China (Chen 2005b;Craig and Powell 2012;Gray 2005;Shen, Yan, and Zeng 2016;Ta, Liu, and Chai 2019;Tan, Ruppanner, and Wang 2021). Studies on childcare time are limited, and the findings are mixed.…”

“…This arrangement could be temporary, but as housing prices rise and the fertility levels decline, this intergenerational living arrangement formed of young children, married couples, and relatively healthy and young grandparents is rising (Pilkauskas and Cross 2018;Zhang 2004). A growing body of research examines how intergenerational co-residence and childcare responsibilities affect employment outcomes of young couples (Chan and Ermisch 2015;Lumsdaine and Vermeer 2015;Raymo et al 2014;Shen, Yan, and Zeng 2016;Smits, Van Gaalen, and Mulder 2010;Yu and Xie 2018), but research on receiving help from parents on adult children's domestic time use is limited, and the findings are mixed (Craig and Powell 2012;Ta, Liu, and Chai 2019;Tan, Ruppanner, and Wang 2021).…”

Weekly spatiotemporal behavior of suburban residents in family context: A case study of the Shangdi-Qinghe area in Beijing

“…地 理 科 学 进 展 第 40 卷 境" 、 从 "家外" 转向 "家内" [3] ， 亟待开展关于家庭情 境的正面研究， 尤其是通过细致的案例研究剖析家 庭企划实现过程中家庭成员面临的制约与资源， 以 及家庭成员的互动模式。 为了更深入地理解郊区居民的活动与出行的 微观情境， 分析郊区化对不同类型家庭日常生活影 响的差异， 以及评估和预判郊区重构与更新背景下 实现绿色出行、 家庭工作平衡与性别平等社会空间 可持续转型的趋势， 亟需借助新时间地理学方法细 致分析企划实现中的家庭情境 [10][11] 响家庭企划的实现。收入较高的家庭有能力雇佣 保姆 [12] ， 或者部分家庭有退休父母所提供的照料孩 子、 买菜做饭等代际援助， 实现了对组合制约的放 松， 是缓解双职工家庭男女家长及就业-家庭矛盾 的重要资源 [13] 。家庭小汽车能够提高家庭成员移 动性水平 [5] 和时空利用弹性 [14] ， 但与此同时， 使用小 汽车的家庭成员可能会承担更多的家庭任务， 如孩 子接送 [2] 、 远距离购物 [5] 等， 并受到尾号限行政策 [15] 的制约。 由于时空资源的有限性和个体的不可分割性， 组合制约通常成为家庭企划实现的关键。当家庭 活动需要利用其他设施， 或与其他组织发生联系 时， 就产生了组合制约， 其中最典型的是幼儿园或 学校的时空可达性以及学龄前和学龄孩子的接送 与看护 [16] 。在制约与资源影响下， 个体呈现出不同 的活动模式。家庭企划对个体活动的影响、 组织企 划与个体企划的交织， 体现了家庭、 组织对个体行 为影响的重要性 [6] ， 个体时空行为更多地与家庭企 划实现、 家庭责任分工等话题相关。…”

“…际分工是指退休父母与年轻家长间的分工， 如扩展 家庭中的代际援助能显著降低年轻家长在家庭照 料事务上花费的时间 [13] 。活动间分工是指男女家 长分别承担不同的家庭责任。日间分工是指男女 家长在不同的日期分别承担相同的任务， 如在瑞 典， 66%的女性是兼职工作者， 以便在星期三、 星期 五下午幼儿园关闭时调整工作照顾孩子 [17] ， 从而家 庭分工呈现出明显的日间差异。 家庭中的组合是指家庭成员之间、 家庭成员和 资源在时空中的同步物理到场。家庭成员间的组 合能够促进家庭情感纽带的稳固， 但同时意味着家 庭成员需要在时空间中协调各自的活动日程安排， 花费一定的时间与其他家庭成员共同完成家庭企 划 [14,18] ， 以满足家庭情感陪伴的需要。家庭中人与 物(如家庭小汽车)的组合则与家庭任务分配相关， 例如， 接送孩子和其他家庭成员的家长更可能使用 汽车 [19] 。…”