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Equality at home - A question of career? Housework, norms, and policies in a European comparative perspective

Author

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  • Susanne Fahlén

    (Stockholms Universitet)

Abstract

Background: Dual-earner families are widespread in contemporary Europe, yet the division of housework is highly gendered, with women still bearing the lion’s share. However, women in dual-career couples and in other types of non-traditional couples, across and within different European countries, appear to handle the division of housework differently. Objective: The objective of this study is to examine the division of housework among various couple-earner types, by determining i) whether relative resources, time spent on paid work, gender attitudes, and family structure reduce variations in housework between different couple types, and ii) whether the division of housework varies between countries with different work‒family policies and gender norms. Methods: The study uses data from ten countries, representing different welfare regime types, extracted from the European Social Survey (2010/11), and employs multivariate regressions and aggregated analysis of the association between the division of housework and the contextual indices. Results: The results show that dual-career couples divide housework more equally than dual-earner couples, relating more to the fact that the former group of women do less housework in general, rather than that men are doing more. The cross-national analysis shows tangible differences between dual-earner and dual-career couples; however, the difference is less marked with respect to the division of housework in countries with more institutional support for work‒family reconciliation and less traditional gender norms. Contribution: By combining conventional economic and gender-based approaches with an institutional framework, this study contributes to the research field by showing that the division of housework within different couple-earner types is contextually embedded.

Suggested Citation

  • Susanne Fahlén, 2016. "Equality at home - A question of career? Housework, norms, and policies in a European comparative perspective," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 35(48), pages 1411-1440.
    • Handle: RePEc:dem:demres:v:35:y:2016:i:48
    DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2016.35.48
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Francesca Bettio & Janneke Plantenga, 2004. "Comparing Care Regimes In Europe," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(1), pages 85-113.
    2. Bina Agarwal, 1997. "''Bargaining'' and Gender Relations: Within and Beyond the Household," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(1), pages 1-51.
    3. Shelly Lundberg & Robert A. Pollak, 1996. "Bargaining and Distribution in Marriage," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 139-158, Fall.
    4. Frances Goldscheider & Eva Bernhardt & Trude Lappegård, 2015. "The Gender Revolution: A Framework for Understanding Changing Family and Demographic Behavior," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 41(2), pages 207-239, June.
    5. Agarwal, Bina, 1997. "Bargaining and gender relations: within and beyond the household," FCND discussion papers 27, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    6. Man Yee Kan, 2008. "Does gender trump money? Housework hours of husbands and wives in Britain," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 22(1), pages 45-66, March.
    7. Walter Korpi, 2000. "Faces of Inequality: Gender, Class and Patterns of Inequalities in Different Types of Welfare States," LIS Working papers 224, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
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    Cited by:

    1. Iga Magda & Ewa Cukrowska-Torzewska, 2019. "Gender wage gap in the workplace: Does the age of the firm matter?," IBS Working Papers 01/2019, Instytut Badan Strukturalnych.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    gender; division of household work; family policy; gender norms; Europe; dual-earner couples;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

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