Gender differences in children's domestic work: evidence from Turkey

This paper analyzes the role of mother’s employment and mother’s gender role attitudes in determining children’s participation of domestic work using micro data from the 2008 and 2013 rounds of Turkey Demographic and Health Surveys. The probability of a child participating in domestic work is estimated separately for girls and boys in order to know i) whether mother’s employment status increases the demand for child domestic work equally for male and female children, and ii) whether women’s gender role attitudes reinforce gender stereotypes by setting different expectations for female and male children. Mother’s employment is found to increase female children’s domestic work significantly and more than male children’s domestic work. Additionally, mother’s progressive values positively effect male children’s domestic work for employed mothers only