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Bargaining Over Housework

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  • Allen M. Parkman

Abstract

. This paper investigates the limited increase in housework provided by husbands in response to higher earnings and labor force participation by their wives. An explanation is provided that integrates the time availability, relative resources, and gender ideology perspectives that traditionally have been used to explain housework decisions. The outcome is the result of a bargaining process in which two concerns are identified as limiting the response of primary wage earning spouses to the employment of secondary wage earning spouses. First, the secondary wage earners’ employment may in part be motivated by a concern about the durability of their marriage rather than their family's welfare. Second, a balancing of the inconveniences and the net earnings of the additional employment may be viewed as making only a limited contribution to the family's welfare. Empirical results of an analysis of the individual household tasks imply that both gender ideology and the spouses’ earnings are important in determining the hours that each spouse devotes to household tasks. When making decisions about the amount of housework to perform, both spouses respond to changes in relative earnings, but the response of husbands, who are usually the primary wage earners, is smaller than that of wives, who tend to be the secondary wage earners.

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  • Allen M. Parkman, 2004. "Bargaining Over Housework," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(4), pages 765-794, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ajecsc:v:63:y:2004:i:4:p:765-794
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1536-7150.2004.00316.x
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    6. Becker, Gary S, 1973. "A Theory of Marriage: Part I," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(4), pages 813-846, July-Aug..
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    2. Bowles, Hannah Riley & McGinn, Kathleen, 2008. "Gender in Job Negotiations: A Two-Level Game," Working Paper Series rwp08-027, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    3. Michael A. Ash & Sanjiv Gupta, 2006. "Whose Money, Whose Time? A Nonparametric Approach to Modeling Time Spent on Housework," UMASS Amherst Economics Working Papers 2006-06, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.
    4. Sanjiv Gupta & Michael Ash, 2008. "Whose money, whose time? A nonparametric approach to modeling time spent on housework in the United States," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(1), pages 93-120.
    5. Noraani Mustapha & Aminah Ahmad & Jegak Uli & Khairuddin Idris, 2011. "Work-Family Factors and its Relationships Between Dispositional, Occupational Characteristics and Intention to Stay," International Journal of Business Research and Management (IJBRM), Computer Science Journals (CSC Journals), vol. 2(3), pages 74-92, October.
    6. Meurs, Mieke & Slavchevska, Vanya, 2014. "Doing it all: Women’s employment and reproductive work in Tajikistan," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 786-803.
    7. Boarnet, Marlon G. & Hsu, Hsin-Ping, 2015. "The gender gap in non-work travel: The relative roles of income earning potential and land use," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 111-127.
    8. Renzo Carriero & Lorenzo Todesco, 2018. "Housework division and gender ideology: When do attitudes really matter?," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 39(39), pages 1039-1064.
    9. Nabanita Datta Gupta & Leslie S Stratton, 2008. "Institutions, Social Norms, and Bargaining Power: An Analysis of Individual Leisure Time in Couple Households," Working Papers 0806, VCU School of Business, Department of Economics.
    10. Ching-Fen Lee & Shain-May Tang, 2022. "What Type of Housework Happiness Do You Prefer? Does Gender and Health Matter? A Taiwanese Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-12, July.
    11. Schaubert, Marianna, 2018. "Do Alimony Regulations Matter inside Marriage? Evidence from the 2008 Reform of the German Maintenance Law," EconStor Preprints 173193, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    12. Esping-Andersen, Gøsta & Schmitt, Christian, 2020. "Multi-dimensional couple bargaining and housework allocation," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 63(1), pages 3-22.
    13. Smith, Ian, 2007. "Property division on divorce with inequity aversion," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 111-128.
    14. Schaubert, Marianna, 2018. "Do Alimony Regulations Matter inside Marriage? Evidence from the 2008 Reform of the German Maintenance Law," VfS Annual Conference 2018 (Freiburg, Breisgau): Digital Economy 181508, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    15. Bernardo, Christina & Paleti, Rajesh & Hoklas, Megan & Bhat, Chandra, 2015. "An empirical investigation into the time-use and activity patterns of dual-earner couples with and without young children," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 71-91.
    16. Woojin Chung & Roeul Kim, 2020. "Which Occupation is Highly Associated with Cognitive Impairment? A Gender-Specific Longitudinal Study of Paid and Unpaid Occupations in South Korea," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-17, October.

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