IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/eurpop/v24y2008i2d10.1007_s10680-007-9143-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Time with Children: Do Fathers and Mothers Replace Each Other When One Parent is Unemployed?

Author

Listed:
  • Ariane Pailhé

    (INED)

  • Anne Solaz

    (INED)

Abstract

This article aims to study the substitution of parental time between the mother and the father. Taking the “experience” of unemployment as a release from the time constraint, we analyse time transfers between partners in such a situation. A bivariate Tobit model is applied on the French time-use data. It shows that parents quite rarely substitute the time devoted to children between each other, except for child transportation and childcare. Parents do not want to relinquish their parental activities, a fact which reflects their desire to contribute to the children’s education, and the contribution of parental time to the balance of power between spouses. Exchanges remain asymmetric: non-employed fathers release less their partner from parental tasks than unemployed mothers do, which reflects the weight of gender social norms.

Suggested Citation

  • Ariane Pailhé & Anne Solaz, 2008. "Time with Children: Do Fathers and Mothers Replace Each Other When One Parent is Unemployed?," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 24(2), pages 211-236, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:eurpop:v:24:y:2008:i:2:d:10.1007_s10680-007-9143-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s10680-007-9143-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10680-007-9143-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10680-007-9143-5?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. Daniel Hallberg & Anders Klevmarken, 2003. "Time for children: A study of parent's time allocation," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 16(2), pages 205-226, May.
    2. Hunt, Janet C. & Kiker, B. F., 1984. "Parental time devoted to children in two- and one-wage-earner families," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 3(1), pages 75-83, February.
    3. Gronau, Reuben, 1977. "Leisure, Home Production, and Work-The Theory of the Allocation of Time Revisited," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 85(6), pages 1099-1123, December.
    4. Bernard Zarca, 1990. "La division du travail domestique : poids du passé et tensions au sein du couple," Économie et Statistique, Programme National Persée, vol. 228(1), pages 29-40.
    5. Gershuny, Jonathan, 2000. "Changing Times: Work and Leisure in Postindustrial Society," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198287872.
    6. Susanne James-Burdumy, 2005. "The Effect of Maternal Labor Force Participation on Child Development," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 23(1), pages 177-211, January.
    7. Lefebvre, Pierre & Merrigan, Philip, 1999. "Comportements d’utilisation du temps non marchand des familles au Québec et au Canada : une modélisation sur les microdonnées du budget-temps de 1986 et de 1992," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 75(4), pages 625-663, décembre.
    8. Hersch, Joni & Stratton, Leslie S, 1994. "Housework, Wages, and the Division of Housework Time for Employed Spouses," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(2), pages 120-125, May.
    9. 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.
    10. Dominique Anxo & Lennart Flood & Yusuf Kocoglu, 2002. "Offre de travail et répartition des activités domestiques et parentales au sein du couple : une comparaison entre la France et la Suède," Économie et Statistique, Programme National Persée, vol. 352(1), pages 127-150.
    11. Gustafsson, Bjorn & Kjulin, Urban, 1994. "Time Use in Child Care and Housework and the Total Cost of Children," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 7(3), pages 287-306, July.
    12. Anne H. Gauthier & Timothy M. Smeeding & Frank F. Furstenberg, 2004. "Are Parents Investing Less Time in Children? Trends in Selected Industrialized Countries," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 30(4), pages 647-672, December.
    13. Michael Bittman, 1999. "Parenthood Without Penalty: Time Use And Public Policy In Australia And Finland," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(3), pages 27-42.
    14. Anne Solaz, 2005. "Division of Domestic Work: Is There Adjustment Between Partners when One is Unemployed?," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 3(4), pages 387-413, December.
    15. 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.
    16. 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.
    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. Adele Menniti & Pietro Demurtas & Serena Arima & Alessandra De Rose, "undated". "Gender inequality at home when mothers work. The case of Italy," Working Papers 130/14, Sapienza University of Rome, Metodi e Modelli per l'Economia, il Territorio e la Finanza MEMOTEF.
    2. Takuya Obara & Yoshitomo Ogawa, 2024. "Optimal taxation in an endogenous fertility model with non-cooperative behavior," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 173-197, March.
    3. Lamia Kandil & Hélène Périvier, 2017. "La division sexuée du travail dans les couples selon le statut marital en France," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-03457505, HAL.
    4. Tracey, Marlon R. & Polachek, Solomon W., 2018. "If looks could heal: Child health and paternal investment," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 179-190.
    5. Morrill, Melinda Sandler & Pabilonia, Sabrina Wulff, 2012. "What Effects Do Macroeconomic Conditions Have on Families' Time Together?," IZA Discussion Papers 6529, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Ariane Pailhé & Anne Solaz, 2012. "The influence of employment uncertainty on childbearing in France: A tempo or quantum effect?," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 26(1), pages 1-40.
    7. Lamia Kandil & Hélène Périvier, 2017. "La division sexuée du travail dans les couples selon le statut marital en France," Working Papers hal-03457505, HAL.
    8. Morrill, Melinda Sandler & Pabilonia, Sabrina Wulff, 2012. "What Effects Do Macroeconomic Conditions Have on Families' Time Together?," IZA Discussion Papers 6529, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Su, Weiliang & Eriksson, Tor & Zhang, Linxiu & Bai, Yunli, 2016. "Off-farm employment and time allocation in on-farm work in rural China from gender perspective," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 34-45.
    10. Daniele Vignoli & Sven Drefahl & Gustavo De Santis, 2012. "Whose job instability affects the likelihood of becoming a parent in Italy? A tale of two partners," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 26(2), pages 41-62.
    11. Helen Norman & Mark Elliot, 2015. "Measuring Paternal Involvement in Childcare and Housework," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 20(2), pages 40-57, May.

    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. Monika Hjeds Löfmark, 2007. "Gender and time allocation differences in Taganrog, Russia," 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. 4(1), pages 69-92, September.
    2. Satvika Chalasani, 2007. "The changing relationship between parents’ education and their time with children," 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. 4(1), pages 93-117, September.
    3. Berenice Monna & Anne Gauthier, 2008. "A Review of the Literature on the Social and Economic Determinants of Parental Time," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 29(4), pages 634-653, December.
    4. Anne H. Gauthier & Timothy M. Smeeding & Frank F. Furstenberg, Jr., 2004. "Do We Invest Less Time in Children? Trends in Parental Time in Selected Industrialized Countries Since the 1960's," Center for Policy Research Working Papers 64, Center for Policy Research, Maxwell School, Syracuse University.
    5. Benjamín Villena-Rodán & Cecilia Ríos-Aguilar, 2011. "Causal Effects of Maternal Time-Investment on Children's Cognitive Outcomes," Documentos de Trabajo 285, Centro de Economía Aplicada, Universidad de Chile.
    6. Jens Bonke & Frederik Gerstoft, 2007. "Stress, time use and gender," 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. 4(1), pages 47-68, September.
    7. Hannu Piekkola & Liisa Leijola, 2007. "Time use and options for retirement in Europe," 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. 4(1), pages 1-29, September.
    8. Oriel Sullivan, 2007. "Cultural voraciousness - A new measure of the pace of leisure in a context of 'harriedness'," 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. 4(1), pages 30-46, September.
    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. 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).
    11. Ruhm, Christopher J., 2008. "Maternal employment and adolescent development," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(5), pages 958-983, October.
    12. Nicoletti, Cheti & Tonei, Valentina, 2020. "Do parental time investments react to changes in child’s skills and health?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    13. Alice Schoonbroodt, 2018. "Parental child care during and outside of typical work hours," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 453-476, June.
    14. 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.
    15. Catherine Sofer & Claire Thibout, 2019. "Women’s investment in career and the household division of labour," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(60), pages 6535-6557, December.
    16. Felfe, Christina & Hsin, Amy, 2012. "Maternal work conditions and child development," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 1037-1057.
    17. 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.
    18. Rodrigo R. Soares & Bruno L. S. Falcão, 2008. "The Demographic Transition and the Sexual Division of Labor," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 116(6), pages 1058-1104, December.
    19. Julia Bredtmann, 2014. "The Intra-household Division of Labor: An Empirical Analysis of Spousal Influences on Individual Time Allocation," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 28(1), pages 1-39, March.
    20. Christopher J. Ruhm, 2004. "Parental Employment and Child Cognitive Development," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 39(1).

    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:spr:eurpop:v:24:y:2008:i:2:d:10.1007_s10680-007-9143-5. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.