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The Time Economy of Parenting

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  • Anne Gray

Abstract

This paper explores how the UK Time Use Survey (UKTUS), together with the author's qualitative interviews and focus groups with London parents, can inform current policy debates about childcare and parental employment. It also refers to the international literature about long-term trends in parental childcare time. It addresses four key questions about time use and parenting, which have implications for theorisation of the ‘gender contract’ regarding childcare and for our understanding of the gendered distribution of time between care, work and leisure in two-parent families. How is total parenting time affected by parents’ work hours? How do the long work weeks of British fathers affect their capacity to share childcare with mothers? Would childcare time rise if work hours were more equally distributed between women and men? This invokes a discussion of how far childcare is really transferable between parents (or can be delegated to external carers); to what extent is it ‘work’ or a relational activity?

Suggested Citation

  • Anne Gray, 2006. "The Time Economy of Parenting," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 11(3), pages 1-15, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:socres:v:11:y:2006:i:3:p:1-15
    DOI: 10.5153/sro.1393
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Mette Deding & Mette Lausten, 2006. "Choosing between his time and her time? Paid and unpaid work of Danish couples," electronic International Journal of Time Use Research, Research Institute on Professions (Forschungsinstitut Freie Berufe (FFB)) and The International Association for Time Use Research (IATUR), vol. 3(1), pages 28-48, August.
    2. Stephen P. Jenkins & Nigel C. O’Leary, 1997. "Gender Differentials in Domestic Work, Market Work, and Total Work Time: UK Time Budget Survey Evidence for 1974/5 and 1987," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 44(2), pages 153-164, May.
    3. Suzanne Bianchi, 2000. "Maternal employment and time with children: Dramatic change or surprising continuity?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 37(4), pages 401-414, November.
    4. Susan Himmelweit, 1995. "The Discovery of 'Unpaid Work': the social consequences of the expansion of 'work'," Open Discussion Papers in Economics 6, The Open University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Economics.
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    Cited by:

    1. Ursula Henz, 2019. "Fathers' involvement with their children in the United Kingdom: Recent trends and class differences," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 40(30), pages 865-896.
    2. Katharine Venter, 2011. "Fathers ‘Care’ Too: The Impact of Family Relationships on the Experience of Work for Parents of Disabled Children," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 16(3), pages 66-81, August.
    3. Helen Norman & Mark Elliot, 2015. "Measuring Paternal Involvement in Childcare and Housework," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 20(2), pages 40-57, May.

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