Signs of Change? At‐Home and Breadwinner Parents' Housework and Child‐Care Time

Abstract

We analyze American Time Use Survey (ATUS) data to examine patterns in domestic work among at-home and breadwinner parents to further gauge how time availability, relative earnings, and gender shape time use in couples with extreme differences in earnings and work hours. We find that involvement in female-typed housework is an important driver of overall housework time. It is counter-normative housework behavior by at-home fathers that shapes conclusions about how time availability, relative resources, and gender influence parents’ housework. While time availability appears to shape child care in comparable ways across parents, mothers are more engaged in child care than similarly-situated fathers. Overall, our comparisons point to the importance of distinguishing among gender-normative housework tasks and accounting for differences in engagement on work and non-work days. Our results also provide a basis for assessing the social significance of growing numbers of parents in work-family roles that are not gender-normative.

La división de los roles de género en las parejas en las que solo trabaja la mujer en Estados Unidos y España

“…Convertirse en pareja FBw puede conducir a un acuerdo de género más igualitario, especialmente en relación con el cuidado de los hijos. Chesley y Flood (2017) también muestran que las parejas FBw son las más igualitarias en términos de cuidado de los hijos principalmente porque los padres pasan más tiempo en este tipo de actividad (a menudo es un factor clave para adoptar este tipo de arreglo), pero no sucede lo mismo con respecto al tiempo dedicado al trabajo doméstico. Las autoras concluyeron que las actitudes de género son más fuertes que las condiciones de empleo, incluso en parejas con una asignación de tiempo muy desigual.…”

Caring and unpaid work in Ireland

“…Women continue to do more unpaid work as being a 'good' mother, wife or daughter depends on this. Chesley and Flood (2017) use the American Time Use Survey to show how stay-athome mothers perform more childcare than fathers who take a similar role. They argue that gender normative tasks persist, even when economic positions between mothers and fathers differ.…”

Gender inequality in work-family balance

“…In countries where dedicated father leave has been introduced -most notably in Iceland, where fathers and mothers get 3 months each of non-transferable leave, take-up of the full 3 months by fathers is as high as 65% 14 . Men who stay home to care for children not only spend more time in childcare, they also do more housework 15 . In addition, the experience of the Nordic countries shows that, once fathers are visible, out and about with prams and pushchairs in the playgrounds, dropin centres and the streets, changes in hearts and minds start to happen.…”