Category: Division of Household Labor

By Tyler Gordon and Jack Ginter

Overview

Traditionally, there has been a gendered division of labor, often characterized by stereotypical roles where men are expected to engage in paid work outside the home, while women are typically responsible for domestic tasks and caregiving. The gender dynamics of household division of labor often refers to the way in which tasks and responsibilities are divided between men and women within the household. As of recently, women have become increasingly engaged in labor market activities, with the most dramatic increase in mother’s employment outside the home. The two-earner household model has overtaken the traditional male breadwinner model in Europe as well as in the United States (Dribe, Stanford, & Buhler, 2009). Although there have been great advancements in employment rates and women’s time in paid work have increased, there are arguments that their time spent in unpaid work has not declined enough. There are many factors contributing to this. Research suggests that parenthood, education level, household income, and occupation all have dramatic impacts on the household division of labor. This blog post will take a deeper dive into this issue.

In almost every industrialized country, the household division of labor remains unbalanced and gender dependent. Women are still often left with the major responsibility for housework and childcare. Though the amount of time women invest in housework has declined in recent decades, the increase in time spent by men in household chores has only partially offset this reduction, except for highly educated professionals (Dribe, Stanford, & Buhler, 2009). Many studies suggest that women still perform the majority of housework. 

Another significant factor of gender division of labor is parenthood. Following the birth of a first child, women invest more in domestic work and less in market work, and the market hours, earnings, and housework of men and women diverge (Musick,Bea, & Gonalons-Pons, 2020). Various factors contribute to this, such as societal expectations, traditional gender roles, and practical considerations. Employers also discriminate against mothers in hiring and wage-setting, viewing them as less competent and dependable, whereas fathers are seen as more responsible (Musick,Bea, & Gonalons-Pons, 2020).

The next factor is income level. Gender disparities vary across the income and wealth distributions. Today, women are now well represented in middle and upper-middle class occupations (e.gManagement and analyst jobs), there are still relatively few women in executive or other top leadership positions in major corporations, large law firms, or investment banking and hedge fund companies, where financial rewards can be exceptionally high (Yavorsky, Keister, Qian, & Thebaud). Higher-income households also typically have greater access to resources for domestic help, such as housekeepers, childcare, providers, or other support services. This can influence the division of labor by relieving both partners of some domestic responsibilities. Lower-income households often follow a more traditional division of labor, where one partner, often the one with the higher income or job stability, focuses on paid employment, while the other takes on a larger share of domestic responsibilities. 

Policy Recommendations

As the studies cited point towards, women tend to show a propensity to seek part-time work schedules to cope with the incompatible demands of work and family  (Webber & Williams, 2008). Women in the labor force feel immense pressure when juggling household responsibilities, especially when the family is dependent on her share of income. Oftentimes, childcare is so expensive today that working full-time and paying for services daily is a worse decision financially than working part-time and staying at home.  One policy intervention that would alleviate this pressure while simultaneously combating the gendered division would be a cheap, state-subsidized child care program that every family has access to. Evidence on subsidized child care consistently shows positive effects on mothers’ labor force reentry and attachment following a birth (Musick, 2020). Another potential intervention would be paid to expand parental leave laws and implement dual-parent leave for both the man and woman after childbirth. Doing so would work to counter the standing gender stereotypes of childcare and household expectations.

Potential Consequences Without Intervention

If we maintain the same on the same track with the current gendered division of labor in society we should not expect the climate ever to get better. Besides the obvious reinforcement of gender role stereotypes that continue to happen, we need to keep in mind two threats posed to women, limited economic opportunities and career stagnation. With the current culture driving women out of the work force and into the home, women face barriers in accessing their respective professions or industries, limiting their economic opportunities and career advancement. Despite making up 47% of the labor force, women still are at a significant deficit to men due to factors like part-time work (Musick, 2020). This not only affects the mother, but also the overall economic welfare of the family. In addition, we stand to lose immense amounts of human capital and talent with women leaving the workforce. Career stagnation for women becomes a greater risk the longer women are out of their careers. With fewer women having the ability to achieve leadership positions, the strength of the labor market suffers as a whole. 

Research Questions

1. How does the availability and affordability of state-subsidized child care programs impact the division of labor within households, particularly in terms of women’s workforce participation, career advancement, and the reinforcement or challenge of traditional gender roles?
2. What are the long-term effects of dual-parent leave policies on the gendered division of labor, considering factors such as changes in parental responsibilities, career trajectories, and perceptions of caregiving roles within households?

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References

Jill E Yavorsky, Lisa A Keister, Yue Qian, Sarah Thébaud, Separate Spheres: The Gender Division of Labor in the Financial Elite, Social Forces, Volume 102, Issue 2, December 2023, Pages 609–632, https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soad061

Braun, M., Lewin-Epstein, N., Stier, H. and Baumgärtner, M.K. (2008), Perceived Equity in the Gendered Division of Household Labor. Journal of Marriage and Family, 70: 1145-1156. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2008.00556.x

Cohen, P. N. (2004). The Gender Division of Labor: “Keeping House” and Occupational Segregation in the United States. Gender & Society, 18(2), 239-252. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243203262037

Yavorsky, J.E., Kamp Dush, C.M. and Schoppe-Sullivan, S.J. (2015), The Production of Inequality: The Gender Division of Labor Across the Transition to Parenthood. Fam Relat, 77: 662-679. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12189

Musick, K., Bea, M. D., & Gonalons-Pons, P. (2020). His and Her Earnings Following Parenthood in the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom. American Sociological Review, 85(4), 639-674. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122420934430

Summary of Findings

For centuries, societal norms have prescribed a division of labor within households, often leaving women taking on the majority of domestic responsibilities. Traditionally, tasks like cooking, cleaning and caregiving have been deemed “women’s work,” while men have been less involved in these duties.

This imbalance has persisted across cultures, perpetuating the stereotype that housework is primarily a woman’s domain. However, it’s essential to recognize that these gender roles are not always present. These gender roles depend on multiple factors such as the education and occupation of both men and women, as the partner with no occupation might have more time spent in the household. This blog post dives into the correlation between the education level and career choice of men and the amount of domestic labor they participate in. 

Interestingly, studies suggest a correlation between a man’s education level and his involvement in domestic labor. Higher education often correlates with a greater likelihood of sharing household responsibilities. Men with more education tend to be more open to challenging traditional gender roles and participating more actively in domestic tasks. Studies show that men with a college education or higher were reported to spend approximately 8 hours per week on housework, compared to around 5 hours for men with a high school education or less. This correlation could be present due to the more consistent hours these men are working, which is most likely 9am-5pm. This stability will leave these higher educated men more energy and time for household duties. On the other hand, men with a lower education level are often in the situation of working longer hours, including overtime, which would push their work day over ten hours long. In this scenario, at the end of the workday, these working men are exhausted and do not have enough energy to perform household labor. However, this correlation isn’t absolute, as individual attitudes, upbringing, and societal influences also significantly shape one’s approach to household labor regardless of educational background.

With these findings, it is also important to look at women and the correlation between their education level and career with the amount of domestic labor they do. It is found that highly educated women tend to do less housework than those with lower education levels, but like men, they prioritize childcare responsibilities. On average, women with college degrees spent around 7-10 hours per week on housework, whereas those without a college education spent approximately 13-17 hours per week. These findings emphasize the complexity of household dynamics, and shed light on the factors like education, societal norms, and the allocation of tasks, that affect the division of household labor between married couples. These findings prompt discussions on evolving gender roles and the need for more equitable distributions of responsibilities within modern households.

Although the results across studies show that improvements to the gender inequality in division of labor have certainly been made, men are increasingly more likely to do their share of household labor in recent years. However, one might argue that since the majority of the data we collected from case studies was conducted in the U.S. where cultural norms surrounding marriage and gender are progressive. Therefore, if the data was to be collected from second and third world countries the results could be very different. The general attitude and cultural norms surrounding women and marriage in these countries are more traditional and idealize the man being the ruler of the household. Therefore the women are left with all of the household labor, resulting in an unequal division of labor.

Policy Recommendations

Flexible work hours and extended parental leave policies play pivotal roles in addressing the gendered division of labor within households. By advocating for flexible work schedules, particularly for professions requiring extended hours, both men and women can better manage their professional commitments alongside household responsibilities. This adaptation allows individuals to participate more actively in domestic duties without compromising their careers. Simultaneously, advocating for extended and equal parental leave policies ensures that men are encouraged and supported to take on more substantial caregiving roles during the crucial early stages of a child’s life. This not only fosters bonding between fathers and their children but also helps challenge traditional notions of childcare being predominantly a woman’s responsibility. These policies collectively contribute to breaking down societal barriers and fostering a more equitable division of household labor between genders.

Potential Consequence without Intervention

Without intervention, the continuation of traditional gender norms surrounding household labor could deepen, reinforcing the existing imbalance in domestic responsibilities. The persistence of these norms across cultures sustains the stereotype that housework primarily belongs to women, solidifying the societal belief that certain tasks are inherently feminine. This perpetuation not only limits the opportunities for men to actively engage in household chores but also burdens women with an unequal share of domestic duties, regardless of their educational or career achievements. In settings where cultural norms idealize men as the primary authority within households, the absence of intervention could solidify these gendered divisions, leaving women to bear the brunt of household labor. Such unaddressed disparities might delay progress towards more equitable distributions of responsibilities within households, perpetuating a cycle of inequality across societies, especially in regions where cultural attitudes toward gender roles remain deeply traditional.

Research Questions

Question 1: Are college educated women who obtain a high wage occupation more likely to stay single than other women?

Question 2: Is there any difference in division of labor at home between heterosexual couples and homosexual couples? If so, is this division between male couples different from that of female couples?

Question 3: What cultural beliefs affect who takes on more household responsibilities in different countries, and how does this influence the division of labor between genders?

 

References 

Catherine E. Ross, The Division of Labor at Home, Social Forces, Volume 65, Issue 3, March 1987, Pages 816–833, https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/65.3.816

Farkas, George. “Education, Wage Rates, and the Division of Labor between Husband and Wife.” Journal of Marriage and Family 38, no. 3 (1976): 473–83. https://doi.org/10.2307/350416.

Chiappori, Pierre-André, Murat Iyigun, and Yoram Weiss. 2009. “Investment in Schooling and the Marriage Market.” American Economic Review, 99 (5): 1689-1713. https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.99.5.1689

Baker, Matthew J., and Joyce P. Jacobsen. “Marriage, Specialization, and the Gender Division of Labor.” Journal of Labor Economics 25, no. 4 (2007): 763–93. https://doi.org/10.1086/522907. 

Sanchez, Laura, and Elizabeth Thomson. “Becoming Mothers and Fathers: Parenthood, Gender, and the Division of Labor.” Gender and Society 11, no. 6 (1997): 747–72. http://www.jstor.org/stable/190148.

 

Written by : Himena Yamane and Georgia Fales

The division of labor within households has been a longstanding issue influenced by income, family composition, and deviance neutralization. Although there has become more progression in the equality of household labor disparities persist and have caused long-lasting effects on women. Effects on women can be seen through the wage gap, retention in the labor force, and traditional gender norms that still exist today. 

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Many factors influence how the division of labor is distributed. Driving factors such as family composition, income, and participation in the labor force have a substantial effect.

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Traditional gender norms has a major effect on the division of labor within households. According to Economic dependence, gender, and the division of labor in the home (Theodore N. Greenstein, 2000) a study showed that in homes that have a male as their source of primary income, there is a higher likelihood that the household labor disparities are larger. In the case that women are the main source of income, there seemed to be a less but similar response with the process of deviance neutralization to counteract those nontraditional norms causing high household labor disproportion. With women taking on more household jobs, as a result, they are less likely to be part of the labor force which in turn widens the income gap and workforce gap. Even when women make more money than the male in a household, gender norms drive women to still taking on more household labor.

Family composition can also highly drive the disparities of household labor. Household labor is more than just cleaning and cooking but can also include stressful parental duties. In The Parenthood Effect on Gender Inequality: Explaining the Change in Paid and Domestic Work When British Couples Become Parents (Katherine Michelmore and Sharon Sassler, 2016)  there seemed to be a reoccurring pattern of women, pre-children, who made higher income tending to have higher retention in the labor force while women, pre-children, who had a lower income had lower retention in the labor force and spent more time dedicated to household chores and parental responsibilities. This pattern can explain the complexities of becoming a parent with different incomes and the responsibilities that are traditionally passed to the mother. With fathers not usually taking on household chores, like being the main caregiver for a child or children, women are deterred from the labor force when they do not have the economic necessities for childcare or support. 

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Childcare policies and other policies that challenge gender norms are needed to help change the disparities in household labor and the labor force. Paid leave policies need to be more accessible in all different occupations to support a family’s responsibility in the context of becoming a parent. Affordable childcare policies also need to be implemented to help retain women in the labor force after becoming a parent to minimize disproportions in the labor force and therefore equalize household responsibilities. Promoting more gender equality in aspects of household and labor market, such as equal pay wage, is also needed to help with these enduring complex issues regarding the division of household labor. The implementation of these policies can contribute to a more equitable distribution within the household and the labor market.

Without the implication of these policies we will see a further gender divide in many aspects. Catherine Ross ( 1987), in The division of labor at home, revealed that when analyzing couples with less of an income gap, the distributions of household chores were more equal while couples with a higher income gap, the distribution was disproportional. While this study may have not took into account the specific jobs of each couples, there still is evidence that with the policies supporting equal wages in genders there would be a positive effect on the division of household labor.

Throughout research, it is clear that the world is moving in the right direction but there are still many challenges women are still facing. The understanding of division of household labor is key to understanding the more complex issues that are prevalent in our society today but there are still topics that remain a question. What different patterns can we observe today about the distribution of household labor are there in the current world with lgbtq+ couples? How are disproportions of household labor different in fields that have a higher gender disparity such as fields in STEM? With further research in these topics can help make more policies that specifically target problems within certain fields and relationship compositions.

 

REFERENCES

1.Greenstein, T. N. (2000). Economic Dependence, Gender, and the Division of Labor in the Home: A Replication and Extension. Journal of Marriage and Family, 62(2), 322–335. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1566742

2. Katherine Michelmore, & Sharon Sassler. (2016). Explaining the Gender Wage Gap in STEM: Does Field Sex Composition Matter? RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 2(4), 194–215 https://doi.org/10.7758/RSF.2016.2.4.07

3.Ross, C. E. (1987). The Division of Labor at Home. Social Forces, 65(3), 816–833. https://doi.org/10.2307/2578530