Paid Work and Domestic Labor in Disadvantaged Communities on the Outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon

Abstract

This article explored the association between economic activity and the contribution to domestic labor in a Middle Eastern society. Analyses were carried out on cross-sectional survey data from 5,998 individuals, aged between 18 and 64 years, in three poor communities in the suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon. Domestic labor was evaluated with a composite index that takes into account both the type of task performed and the level of involvement. Housework categories included core household chores, care giving, financial management, home management, and home/car maintenance. Results showed that women continue to do most of the domestic labor in the three communities. However, women's load of domestic labor decreased as they joined the labor market, whereas men's contribution to domestic labor increased with involvement in paid work. Relatively speaking, the difference in contribution to housework between house members engaged and not engaged in paid labor was much higher for women than it was for men. KeywordsDomestic labor; Housework; Paid work; Patriarchy; Middle East; Lebanon Women have been traditionally designated to perform housework (Coltrane, 2000;Grana, Moore, Wilson, & Miller, 1993;Shelton & John, 1996). Studies in the literature have highlighted a shift in gender roles and an increase in women's participation in the labor force over the past four decades (Apparala, Reifman, & Munsch, 2003;Bolak, 1997;Corrigall & Konrad, 2006;Grana et al., 1993;McKeen & Bu, 2005;Spade & Reese, 1991;Starrels, 1994). A large body of literature has addressed the gendered division of household tasks in Western societies (Coltrane, 2000;Demo & Acock, 1993;Shelton & John, 1996;Twiggs, McQuillan, & Ferree, 1999). Studies have shown an increasing contribution of men especially when women participate in the labor force (Brines, 1994;Hossain & Roopnarine, 1993;Nakhaie, 1995). Research in Western societies has shown that the relative contributions of household members to domestic labor are affected by their labor force participation, whether they generate an income or not, and how dependent they are on others for economic support (Baxter, 2002;Bianchi, Milkie, Sayer, & Robinson, 2000;Blood & Wolfe, 1960;Brines, 1994;Coltrane, 2000;Greenstein, 2000;McFarlane, Beaujot, & Haddad, 2000). It follows that women contribute less to household labor when their involvement in paid work gives them an income and decreases available time to perform housework. As more women join the work force, researchers have hypothesized that their load of household tasks lessens and is absorbed by men within the household (Baxter, 2002;Brayfield, 1992) or by paid helpers.Correspondence to: Rima R. Habib. UKPMC Funders Group UKPMC Funders Group Author Manuscript UKPMC Funders Group Author ManuscriptOn the other hand, the results of other research suggest that women's economic activity and income do not reduce their contribution to household labor in societies where marital power and financial resources remain in the hands of men (Diefenbach, 2002;Greenstein...

Hard work at home: musculoskeletal pain among female homemakers

“…Lebanese families residing in Nabaa originate from the regions of the south and Mount Lebanon. This research adopted the same sampling frame and study population of an earlier study, the Urban Health Study, conducted by the Faculty of Health Sciences at the American University of Beirut (Habib et al 2005(Habib et al , 2006b(Habib et al , 2008 Women in the current study were between the ages of 18 and 62 years and were previously or presently married.…”

“…This result did not come as a surprise since women involved in the labour force confront the dual burden of housework and paid work. This dual burden is compounded in some Lebanese social contexts, where women are expected to shoulder a heavy share of household work regardless of employment status (Habib et al 2006b). However, in the current study, employment was associated with a reduction in the number of hours of housework.…”

“…However, in the current study, employment was associated with a reduction in the number of hours of housework. Women may have actively reduced their household work due to their involvement in paid labour or may have spent fewer hours doing household tasks because they were away from their home for many hours each week (Habib et al 2006b). Among employed women, 42% worked in occupations such as housekeeping, restaurant service and food processing, which share many work tasks and exposures with homemaking (data not shown).…”

“…) and family care duties (child rearing and other caregiving responsibilities) that require substantial physical, emotional and intellectual labour (Shelton and John 1996, Bianchi et al 2000, Coltrane 2000. Studies have found that housework can be more energy intensive than some types of paid work (Sujatha et al 2003, Brooks et al 2004 and is a source of hazards comparable to other occupational settings (Messing 1998, Rosano et al 2004, Yip et al 2004, Habib et al 2006b. Research has also found associations between housework and upperextremity and lower back disorders (Mundt et al 1993, Yip et al 2001, Josephson et al 2003.…”

“…Preliminary studies from Lebanon found that women engage in heavy workloads, both paid and unpaid, and bear a much greater share of housework responsibilities than men (Habib et al 2006b). Women homemakers in Nabaa, a low-income Lebanese community, were socially pressured to perform many hours of household work.…”