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Does gender trump money? Housework hours of husbands and wives in Britain

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  • Man Yee Kan

    (University of Oxford, man-yee.kan@sociology.ox.ac.uk)

Abstract

This article uses data from various waves of the British Household Panel Survey (1993—2003) to examine the associations of housework hours with relative income and gender-role attitudes. In particular, it tests the hypothesis that the effect of relative income on housework time will be diminished due to one's gendered expectations. Findings show both men's and women's housework hours are significantly decreased with increases in their amount of income relative to their partners'.Traditionalism in gender-role attitudes is associated with longer housework hours in the case of women and shorter hours in the case of men.Women holding traditional attitudes spend longer hours on housework than other women with the same level of economic independency. Apart from this, there is no conclusive evidence to support the claim that highly economic independent women and highly economic dependent men tend to resort to a gender-traditional form of domestic division of labour.

Suggested Citation

  • Man Yee Kan, 2008. "Does gender trump money? Housework hours of husbands and wives in Britain," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 22(1), pages 45-66, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:22:y:2008:i:1:p:45-66
    DOI: 10.1177/0950017007087416
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jonathan Gershuny & John Robinson, 1988. "Historical changes in the household division of labor," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 25(4), pages 537-552, November.
    2. Lundberg, Shelly & Pollak, Robert A, 1993. "Separate Spheres Bargaining and the Marriage Market," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(6), pages 988-1010, December.
    3. Marjorie B. McElroy, 1990. "The Empirical Content of Nash-Bargained Household Behavior," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 25(4), pages 559-583.
    4. Pudney, Stephen & Yee Kan, Â Man, 2007. "Measurement error in stylised and diary data on time use," ISER Working Paper Series 2007-03, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    5. Manser, Marilyn & Brown, Murray, 1980. "Marriage and Household Decision-Making: A Bargaining Analysis," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 21(1), pages 31-44, February.
    6. Yee Kan, Â Man & Gershuny, Jonathan, 2006. "Human capital and social position in Britain: creating a measure of wage-earning potential from BHPS data," ISER Working Paper Series 2006-03, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    7. Gershuny, Jonathan, 2000. "Changing Times: Work and Leisure in Postindustrial Society," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198287872.
    8. Yee Kan, Â Man, 2006. "Measuring housework participation: the gap between ‘stylised’ questionnaire estimates and diary-based estimates," ISER Working Paper Series 2006-11, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    9. 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.
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    Cited by:

    1. Simon Chang & Rachel Connelly & Ping Ma, 2016. "What Will You Do If I Say ‘I Do’?: The Effect of the Sex Ratio on Time Use within Taiwanese Married Couples," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 35(4), pages 471-500, August.
    2. Pia S. Schober, 2011. "Maternal Labor Market Return, Parental Leave Policies, and Gender Inequality in Housework," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 422, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    3. Datta Gupta, Nabanita & Stratton, Leslie S., 2008. "Institutions, Social Norms, and Bargaining Power: An Analysis of Individual Leisure Time in Couple Households," IZA Discussion Papers 3773, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Simonetta Longhi & Alita Nandi & Mark Bryan & Sara Connolly & Cigdem Gedikli, 2018. "Unhappiness in unemployment – is it the same for everyone?," Working Papers 2018007, The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics.
    5. Susanne Fahlén, 2016. "Equality at home - A question of career? Housework, norms, and policies in a European comparative perspective," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 35(48), pages 1411-1440.

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