Mission Impossible? New Housework Theories for Changing Families

Geist, Claudia; Ruppanner, Leah

doi:10.1111/jftr.12245

Cited by 60 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 142 publications

(174 reference statements)

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“…One of the major hypothesis posits that housework time allocated depends on the amount of time spent in paid work (Arrighi and Maume, 2000;Davis et al, 2007;Fuwa, 2004;Geist and Ruppanner, 2018;Lachance-Grzela and Bouchard, 2010), so that members share household tasks according to the time available to each of them (Lachance-Grzela and Bouchard, 2010). Measuring this variable by employment status, history and/or hours worked, past research in general shows that individuals who do more paid work spend less time on housework (Artis and Pavalko, 2003;Bianchi et al, 2000;Bianchi et al, 2012;Ciabattari, 2004;Cunningham, 2007;Fuwa, 2004;Geist and Ruppanner, 2018;Gershuny, Bittman and Brice, 2005;Greenstein 2000;Lachance-Grzela and Bouchard, 2010;Pinto and Coltrane, 2008). A related concept to this perspective is comparative advantage which posits that if one member of the household has a comparative advantage in the labor market, say, higher earning, he/she should specialize in labor market production, and the other members should specialize in household production (Fuwa, 2004).…”

Section: Time Availabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, this perspective is gender neutral in that it does not consider the ways in which gender-specific norms of behavior may mediate the relationship between market work hours and housework hours (Fahlen, 2016;Geist and Ruppanner, 2018;. In addition, this perspective does not adequately address causality, leaving questions of whether women with high family demands work from home to incorporate domestic and paid work, or whether working from home makes women more vulnerable to increased domestic chores (Fahlen, 2016;Geist and Ruppanner, 2018).…”

Section: Time Availabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The relative resources perspective hypothesizes that a partner"s own resources, such as earnings, education, and occupational prestige offer decision making or bargaining power to the partner (Arrighi and Maume, 2000;Coltrane, 2000;Davis et al, 2007;Fahlen, 2016;Fuwa, 2004;Geist and Ruppanner, 2018;Pinto and Coltrane, 2008). A key assumption of this theory is that economic resources including education serve as a proxy for bargaining power, where an individual with more such resources will be able to bargain out of housework (Arrighi and Maume, 2000;Fuwa, 2004;Lachance-Grzela and Bouchard, 2010), whereas the partner with less such resources is expected to contribute more housework to compensate for the deficit (Geist and Ruppanner, 2018). This perspective, therefore, views housework as an outcome of negotiation between household members who own key resources to strike the best deal based on self-interest (Coltrane, 2000).…”

Section: Relative Resources/bargainingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, Coltrane (2000) remarks that this hypothesis is a result of the neoclassical economic theory of human capital investment and its new household economics variant which assumes overall utility maximization to be the main motive behind the given allocation of time for housework or the labor market among men and women. In addition, the perspective"s concept of power is to a great extent confined to the status of spouses and does not adequately consider more multifaceted family structures, cross-generation families or families with coresidential adult children (Geist and Ruppanner, 2018).…”

Section: Relative Resources/bargainingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Household labor has usually been conceptualized as the set of unpaid tasks, domestic chores performed to satisfy the needs of family members or to maintain the home and the family"s possessions (Coltrane, 2000;Geist, and Ruppanner, 2018;Lachance-Grzela and Bouchard, 2010). Most often, household tasks are classified as (1) routine tasks (those that are on-going, nondiscretionary, very time consuming, and often referred to as women tasks) including laundry, cooking, cleaning; and (2) non-routine tasks (those that are intermittent, can be delayed, are more flexible, less time consuming, and often referred to as male tasks) including household repairs, car maintenance, yardwork and so on (Badr and Acitelli, 2008;Bartley, Blanton and Gilliard, 2005;Batalova and Cohen, 2002;Coltrane, 2000;Geist and Ruppanner, 2018). Most recent housework studies have focused on routine tasks (Batalova and Cohen, 2002;Cunningham, 2007;Pinto and Coltrane, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Resources, Time and Gender: Determinants of Women's Housework in Bahir Dar and nearby Rural Villages, Northwest Ethiopia

Getahun¹

2019

Eth. J. Soc. Sci. Hum.

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Women's disproportionate engagement in housework and its determinants has been relatively well studied in the developed countries. There is, however, a serious lack of such research for less developed countries. Unless the barriers to women's participation in development efforts are understood and addressed, poverty reduction programs may not succeed. This paper used data from a household survey of 502 married women to analyze determinants of women's hours of housework in light of available theories and employing a multivariate hierarchical linear regression model. Results show that, in line with theory and past research, time availability (measured as women's employment status) and resources or bargaining power (measured as years of schooling and loan receipt status), and gender ideology/display (measured as traditional gender perception/practice) have statistically significant negative associations with a woman's housework time. Similarly, traditional gender perception/practice as a measure of gender ideology/display has the expected positive association with a woman's housework time, despite the weaker statistical significance level. Also, among control variables, housework and non-housework performed by other members, number of young children, and household asset values have the expected associations to women's hours of housework. National strategies aiming at poverty reduction may need to pay more attention to educate women, help them overcome shortage of working capital, and improve employment opportunities since these may also empower women and thereby minimize traditional gender ideology/display and having too many young children.

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