IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/woemps/v37y2023i1p236-256.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Flexible Working and the Division of Housework and Childcare: Examining Divisions across Arrangement and Occupational Lines

Author

Listed:
  • Heejung Chung

    (University of Kent, UK)

  • Cara Booker

    (University of Essex, UK)

Abstract

Using the UK Household Longitudinal Study we examine how flexible working is associated with the division of housework and childcare among dual-earner heterosexual couples with young children. Although flexible working may enable better work-family integration, it can also reinforce traditional divisions of domestic labour where women perform more housework and childcare. The degree to which this occurs may vary across arrangements due to differences in the flexibility and permeability of boundaries. We also expect occupational variations but in a paradoxical manner; the constraints and resources workers have may cause the associations to conflict with assumptions based on gender role attitudes. Results show that arrangements that allow more boundary blurring, such as homeworking, are associated with more traditional divisions of childcare but not necessarily of housework. Flexitime, especially for the lower-skilled/paid occupations, enables a more egalitarian division of labour, possibly because it is used to maximise households’ working hours and income.

Suggested Citation

  • Heejung Chung & Cara Booker, 2023. "Flexible Working and the Division of Housework and Childcare: Examining Divisions across Arrangement and Occupational Lines," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 37(1), pages 236-256, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:37:y:2023:i:1:p:236-256
    DOI: 10.1177/09500170221096586
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09500170221096586
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/09500170221096586?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lynn, Peter, 2009. "Sample design for Understanding Society," Understanding Society Working Paper Series 2009-01, Understanding Society at the Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    2. Heejung Chung & Tanja Lippe, 2020. "Flexible Working, Work–Life Balance, and Gender Equality: Introduction," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 151(2), pages 365-381, September.
    3. Heejung Chung & Mariska van der Horst, 2020. "Flexible Working and Unpaid Overtime in the UK: The Role of Gender, Parental and Occupational Status," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 151(2), pages 495-520, September.
    4. Anna Kurowska, 2020. "Gendered Effects of Home-Based Work on Parents’ Capability to Balance Work with Non-work: Two Countries with Different Models of Division of Labour Compared," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 151(2), pages 405-425, September.
    5. 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.
    6. Jaeseung Kim, 2020. "Workplace Flexibility and Parent–Child Interactions Among Working Parents in the U.S," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 151(2), pages 427-469, September.
    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. Filippos Maraziotis, 2024. "Flexibility for equality: Examining the impact of flexible working time arrangements on women's convergence in working hours," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 62(2), pages 410-445, June.

    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. Zhuofei Lu & Senhu Wang & Yaojun Li & Xiyuan Liu & Wendy Olsen, 2023. "Who Gains Mental Health Benefits from Work Autonomy? The Roles of Gender and Occupational Class," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 18(4), pages 1761-1783, August.
    2. Marie Boltz & Bart Cockx & Ana Maria Diaz & Luz Magdalena Salas, 2023. "How does working‐time flexibility affect workers' productivity in a routine job? Evidence from a field experiment," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 61(1), pages 159-187, March.
    3. Duanyi Yang & Erin L. Kelly & Laura D. Kubzansky & Lisa Berkman, 2023. "Working from Home and Worker Well-being: New Evidence from Germany," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 76(3), pages 504-531, May.
    4. José Ignacio Giménez-Nadal & Jorge Velilla, 2024. "Home-based work, time allocations, and subjective well-being: gender differences in the United Kingdom," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 51(1), pages 1-33, February.
    5. Agnieszka Kasperska, 2022. "Working from Home and Employee Perception of Career Prospects in Europe: the Gender and Family Perspectives," Working Papers 2022-31, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw.
    6. Engelhardt, Linda & Mack, Judith & Weise, Victoria & Kopp, Marie & Starke, Karla Romero & Garthus-Niegel, Susan, 2023. "The COVID-19 pandemic: Implications for work-privacy-conflict and parent–child-bonding in mothers and fathers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    7. Filippos Maraziotis, 2024. "Flexibility for equality: Examining the impact of flexible working time arrangements on women's convergence in working hours," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 62(2), pages 410-445, June.
    8. Senhu Wang & Lambert Zixin Li & Zhuofei Lu & Shuanglong Li & David Rehkopf, 2022. "Work Schedule Control and Allostatic Load Biomarkers: Disparities Between and Within Gender," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 163(3), pages 1249-1267, October.
    9. Yvonne Lott & Clare Kelliher & Heejung Chung, 2022. "Reflecting the changing world of work? A critique of existing survey measures and a proposal for capturing new ways of working," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 28(4), pages 457-473, November.
    10. Heejung Chung & Hyojin Seo & Holly Birkett & Sarah Forbes, 2022. "Working from Home and the Division of Childcare and Housework among Dual-Earner Parents during the Pandemic in the UK," Merits, MDPI, vol. 2(4), pages 1-23, October.
    11. Jay Stewart, 2010. "The Timing of Maternal Work and Time with Children," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 64(1), pages 181-200, October.
    12. Fali Huang, 2006. "What Matter for Child Development?," Working Papers 24-2006, Singapore Management University, School of Economics.
    13. Altorjai, Szilvia, 2013. "Over-qualification of immigrants in the UK," ISER Working Paper Series 2013-11, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    14. Craig Gundersen & David R. Just & Fei Men, 2017. "Mothers' Within-Marriage Economic Prospects and Later Food Security: Does Marital Outcome Matter?," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(3), pages 682-702, November.
    15. Yannis Georgellis & Howard Wall, 2005. "Gender differences in self-employment," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(3), pages 321-342.
    16. Felfe, Christina & Hsin, Amy, 2012. "Maternal work conditions and child development," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 1037-1057.
    17. Garey Ramey & Valerie A. Ramey, 2010. "The Rug Rat Race," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 41(1 (Spring), pages 129-199.
    18. Peter Howie & John Wicks & John Fitzgerald & Douglas Dalenberg & Rachel Connelly, 2006. "Mothers' time spent in care of their children and market work: a simultaneous model with attitudes as instruments," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(8), pages 503-506.
    19. Tahir Andrabi & Jishnu Das & Asim Ijaz Khwaja, 2012. "What Did You Do All Day?: Maternal Education and Child Outcomes," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 47(4), pages 873-912.
    20. John Sandberg & Sandra Hofferth, 2001. "Changes in children’s time with parents: United States, 1981–1997," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 38(3), pages 423-436, August.

    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:sae:woemps:v:37:y:2023:i:1:p:236-256. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.britsoc.co.uk/ .

    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.