IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/labeco/v57y2019icp102-116.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Gender norms and housework time allocation among dual-earner couples

Author

Listed:
  • Hwang, Jisoo
  • Lee, Chulhee
  • Lee, Esther

Abstract

This paper studies the effect of parental gender norms on the allocation of household work among dual-earner couples. Using regional variation in the strength of son preference in Korea, we proxy parental gender norms with sex ratio at birth in one’s birthplace (POB SRB). We find that both the total and the wife’s housework time increase when the husband is from a province with higher sex ratio at birth, whereas the husband’s housework time is unaffected by the couple’s POB SRB. We explore potential mechanisms, including human capital accumulation, preference for household production, and selection in the marriage market. Findings suggest that differences in husbands’ preferences for wives’ household work seem to be an important channel.

Suggested Citation

  • Hwang, Jisoo & Lee, Chulhee & Lee, Esther, 2019. "Gender norms and housework time allocation among dual-earner couples," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 102-116.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:labeco:v:57:y:2019:i:c:p:102-116
    DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2019.01.007
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927537119300053
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.labeco.2019.01.007?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Luojia Hu & Analía Schlosser, 2015. "Prenatal Sex Selection and Girls’ Well‐Being: Evidence from India," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 125(587), pages 1227-1261, September.
    2. Alberto Alesina & Paola Giuliano, 2010. "The power of the family," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 93-125, June.
    3. Michael Burda & Daniel Hamermesh & Philippe Weil, 2013. "Total work and gender: facts and possible explanations," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 26(1), pages 239-261, January.
    4. George A. Akerlof & Rachel E. Kranton, 2000. "Economics and Identity," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(3), pages 715-753.
    5. Jeremy Greenwood & Ananth Seshadri & Mehmet Yorukoglu, 2005. "Engines of Liberation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 72(1), pages 109-133.
    6. Claudia Olivetti & Eleonora Patacchini & Yves Zenou, 2020. "Mothers, Peers, and Gender-Role Identity," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 18(1), pages 266-301.
    7. Gigi Foster & Charlene M. Kalenkoski, 2013. "Tobit or OLS? An empirical evaluation under different diary window lengths," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(20), pages 2994-3010, July.
    8. Michael Baker & Kevin Milligan, 2016. "Boy-Girl Differences in Parental Time Investments: Evidence from Three Countries," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 10(4), pages 399-441.
    9. Stewart, Jay, 2013. "Tobit or not Tobit?," Journal of Economic and Social Measurement, IOS Press, issue 3, pages 263-290.
    10. Alessandra Fogli & Raquel Fernandez, 2009. "Culture: An Empirical Investigation of Beliefs, Work, and Fertility," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(1), pages 146-177, January.
    11. Francine D. Blau & Lawrence M. Kahn, 2000. "Gender Differences in Pay," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 75-99, Fall.
    12. Jisoo Hwang, 2016. "The second shift: assimilation in housework time among immigrants," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 941-959, December.
    13. Marianne Bertrand & Emir Kamenica & Jessica Pan, 2015. "Gender Identity and Relative Income within Households," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 130(2), pages 571-614.
    14. Jonathan Guryan & Erik Hurst & Melissa Kearney, 2008. "Parental Education and Parental Time with Children," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 22(3), pages 23-46, Summer.
    15. Luigi Guiso & Paola Sapienza & Luigi Zingales, 2006. "Does Culture Affect Economic Outcomes?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(2), pages 23-48, Spring.
    16. Claudia Goldin, 2014. "A Grand Gender Convergence: Its Last Chapter," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(4), pages 1091-1119, April.
    17. Jisoo Hwang, 2016. "Housewife, “gold miss,” and equal: the evolution of educated women’s role in Asia and the U.S," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 29(2), pages 529-570, April.
    18. Ming-Jen Lin & Jin-Tan Liu & Nancy Qian, 2014. "More Missing Women, Fewer Dying Girls: The Impact Of Sex-Selective Abortion On Sex At Birth And Relative Female Mortality In Taiwan," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 12(4), pages 899-926, August.
    19. Billor, Nedret & Hadi, Ali S. & Velleman, Paul F., 2000. "BACON: blocked adaptive computationally efficient outlier nominators," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 279-298, September.
    20. Nicole M Fortin, 2005. "Gender Role Attitudes and the Labour-market Outcomes of Women across OECD Countries," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 21(3), pages 416-438, Autumn.
    21. Almudena Sevilla-Sanz & Jose Ignacio Gimenez-Nadal & Cristina Fernandez, 2010. "Gender Roles and the Division of Unpaid Work in Spanish Households," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(4), pages 137-184.
    22. Coen-Pirani, Daniele & León, Alexis & Lugauer, Steven, 2010. "The effect of household appliances on female labor force participation: Evidence from microdata," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 503-513, June.
    23. Silvia Helena Barcellos & Leandro S. Carvalho & Adriana Lleras-Muney, 2014. "Child Gender and Parental Investments in India: Are Boys and Girls Treated Differently?," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 6(1), pages 157-189, January.
    24. Jean Kimmel & Rachel Connelly, 2007. "Mothers’ Time Choices: Caregiving, Leisure, Home Production, and Paid Work," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 42(3).
    25. J. Gimenez-Nadal & Jose Molina, 2013. "Parents’ education as a determinant of educational childcare time," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 26(2), pages 719-749, April.
    26. Lena Edlund & Chulhee Lee, 2013. "Son Preference, Sex Selection and Economic Development: The Case of South Korea," NBER Working Papers 18679, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    27. Mark Aguiar & Erik Hurst, 2007. "Measuring Trends in Leisure: The Allocation of Time Over Five Decades," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(3), pages 969-1006.
    28. Begoña Álvarez & Daniel Miles, 2003. "Gender effect on housework allocation: Evidence from Spanish two-earner couples," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 16(2), pages 227-242, May.
    29. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    30. Joni Hersch & Leslie S. Stratton, 2002. "Housework and Wages," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 37(1), pages 217-229.
    31. Charlene M. Kalenkoski & David C. Ribar & Leslie S. Stratton, 2005. "Parental Child Care in Single-Parent, Cohabiting, and Married-Couple Families: Time-Diary Evidence from the United Kingdom," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(2), pages 194-198, May.
    32. Juan Carlos Campaña & Jose Ignacio Giménez-Nadal & José Alberto Molina, 2018. "Gender Norms and the Gendered Distribution of Total Work in Latin American Households," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(1), pages 35-62, January.
    33. Nancy Folbre & Jayoung Yoon & Kade Finnoff & Allison Fuligni, 2005. "By what measure? family time devoted to children in the united states," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 42(2), pages 373-390, May.
    34. Begoña Álvarez & Daniel Miles-Touya, 2012. "Exploring the relationship between parents’ and children’s housework time in Spain," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 10(2), pages 299-318, June.
    35. Sabrina Wulff Pabilonia & Jennifer Ward-Batts, 2007. "The Effect of Child Gender on Parents' Labor Supply: An Examination of Natives, Immigrants, and their Children," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(2), pages 402-406, May.
    36. Eleanor Jawon Choi & Jisoo Hwang, 2015. "Child Gender and Parental Inputs: No More Son Preference in Korea?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(5), pages 638-643, May.
    37. Raquel Fernández & Alessandra Fogli & Claudia Olivetti, 2004. "Mothers and Sons: Preference Formation and Female Labor Force Dynamics," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(4), pages 1249-1299.
    38. Woojin Chung & Monica Das Gupta, 2007. "The Decline of Son Preference in South Korea: The Roles of Development and Public Policy," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 33(4), pages 757-783, December.
    39. 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.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. repec:hal:journl:hal-04792769 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. HARA Hiromi & Núria RODRà GUEZ-PLANAS, 2021. "Long-Term Consequences of Teaching Gender Roles: Evidence from Desegregating Industrial Arts and Home Economics in Japan," Discussion papers 21072, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    3. Giménez-Nadal, José Ignacio & Molina, José Alberto & Velilla, Jorge, 2022. "Intergenerational correlation of self-employment in Western Europe," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    4. Estefanía Galván & Cecilia García-Peñalosa, 2021. "Interactions amongst gender norms: Evidence from US couples," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 21-15, Instituto de Economía - IECON.
    5. Estefanía Galván & Cecilia García-Peñalosa, 2021. "Interactions amongst gender norms: Evidence from US couples," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 21-15, Instituto de Economía - IECON.
    6. Aditi Dimri & Véronique Gille & Philipp Ketz, 2024. "Measuring sex-selective abortion: How many women abort?," Post-Print hal-04671748, HAL.
    7. Garcia-Brazales, Javier, 2022. "Unlearning Traditionalism: The Long-Run Effects of Schools on Gender Attitudes," EconStor Preprints 232502, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, revised 2022.
    8. Chen, Yunsi & Hu, Dezhuang, 2021. "Gender norms and marriage satisfaction: Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    9. Lee Kyeongah, 2022. "The gender wage gap: evidence from South Korea," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 11(1), pages 1-36, January.
    10. Min-Su Chung & Keunjae Lee, 2022. "Hypergamy Among South Korean Women and Its Implications for the Marriage Rate," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(3), pages 929-951, June.
    11. Taehyun Ahn, 2022. "Workweek reduction and women's job turnover: Evidence from labor legislation in South Korea," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(4), pages 1607-1625, October.
    12. Zhang, Mingxue & Wang, Yue & Hou, Lingling, 2024. "Gender norms and the child penalty in China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 221(C), pages 277-291.
    13. Hara, Hiromi & Rodríguez-Planas, Núria, 2021. "Long-Term Consequences of Teaching Gender Roles: Evidence from Desegregating Industrial Arts and Home Economics in Japan," IZA Discussion Papers 14611, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Chenghua Guan & Ling Zuo, 2021. "Sustainability of Regional Factors on the Gendered Division of Housework in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-16, September.
    15. Begoña Álvarez & Daniel Miles-Touya, 2019. "Gender imbalance in housework allocation: a question of time?," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 1257-1287, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. J. Ignacio Gimenez-Nadal & José Alberto Molina & Yu Zhu, 2018. "Intergenerational mobility of housework time in the United Kingdom," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 911-937, December.
    2. Cavapozzi, Danilo & Francesconi, Marco & Nicoletti, Cheti, 2024. "Dividing Housework between Partners: Individual Preferences and Social Norms," IZA Discussion Papers 17370, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. J. Ignacio Gimenez-Nadal & Jose Alberto Molina & Raquel Ortega, 2017. "Like my parents at home? Gender differences in children’s housework in Germany and Spain," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 52(4), pages 1143-1179, June.
    4. Gimenez-Nadal, José Ignacio & Molina, José Alberto, 2020. "The Gender Gap in Time Allocation in Europe," IZA Discussion Papers 13461, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Gimenez-Nadal, Jose Ignacio & Molina, José Alberto, 2021. "How do women allocate their available time in Europe? Differences with men," GLO Discussion Paper Series 908, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    6. Haaland, Venke Furre & Rege, Mari & Telle, Kjetil & Votruba, Mark, 2018. "The intergenerational transfer of the employment gender gap," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 132-146.
    7. Juan Carlos Campaña & J. Ignacio Giménez-Nadal & José Alberto Molina, 2020. "Self-employed and Employed Mothers in Latin American Families: Are There Differences in Paid Work, Unpaid Work, and Child Care?," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 41(1), pages 52-69, March.
    8. Estefanía Galván, 2022. "Gender Identity and Quality of Employment," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 89(354), pages 409-436, April.
    9. J. Gimenez-Nadal & Jose Molina, 2013. "Parents’ education as a determinant of educational childcare time," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 26(2), pages 719-749, April.
    10. Begoña Álvarez & Daniel Miles-Touya, 2019. "Gender imbalance in housework allocation: a question of time?," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 1257-1287, December.
    11. Cavapozzi, Danilo & Francesconi, Marco & Nicoletti, Cheti, 2021. "The impact of gender role norms on mothers’ labor supply," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 186(C), pages 113-134.
    12. Jisoo Hwang, 2016. "Housewife, “gold miss,” and equal: the evolution of educated women’s role in Asia and the U.S," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 29(2), pages 529-570, April.
    13. Francesconi, Marco & Nicoletti, Cheti & Cavapozzi, Danilo, 2021. "The Impact of Gender Role Norms on Mothers’ Labor Supply," CEPR Discussion Papers 15957, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    14. Juan Carlos, Campaña & J. Ignacio, Giménez-Nadal & Jose Alberto, Molina, 2017. "Differences between self-employed and employed mothers in balancing family and work responsibilities: Evidence from Latin American countries," MPRA Paper 77964, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Ferrer, Ana M. & Mascella, Allison, 2022. "Immigrant gaps in parental time investments into children's human capital activities," CLEF Working Paper Series 48, Canadian Labour Economics Forum (CLEF), University of Waterloo.
    16. Claudia Olivetti & Barbara Petrongolo, 2016. "The Evolution of Gender Gaps in Industrialized Countries," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 8(1), pages 405-434, October.
    17. Francine D. Blau & Lawrence M. Kahn & Matthew Comey & Amanda Eng & Pamela Meyerhofer & Alexander Willén, 2020. "Culture and gender allocation of tasks: source country characteristics and the division of non-market work among US immigrants," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 907-958, December.
    18. Gimenez-Nadal, J. Ignacio & Molina, Jose Alberto, 2015. "Health status and the allocation of time: Cross-country evidence from Europe," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 188-203.
    19. Claudia Olivetti & Eleonora Patacchini & Yves Zenou, 2020. "Mothers, Peers, and Gender-Role Identity," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 18(1), pages 266-301.
    20. Wen Li & Kunio Urakawa & Fumihiko Suga, 2023. "Are Social Norms Associated with Married Women’s Labor Force Participation? A Comparison of Japan and the United States," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 193-205, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Household work; Time use; Gender norms; Sex ratio at birth;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • Z10 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:labeco:v:57:y:2019:i:c:p:102-116. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/labeco .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.