Girls’ Domestic and Care Work in Brazil: Educational Consequences and Connections to Mothers’ Work

• In Event: 2183 - Section on Race, Gender, and Class Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 12. Inequality in Work

Abstract

Girls’ contribution to their households primarily takes the form of household production—unpaid domestic chores and childcare. Yet, from a policy perspective, domestic work is seldom considered child labor, while comparatively, little academic research has investigated its consequences on later socioeconomic outcomes. Using nationally-representative data from Brazil, this paper addresses girls’ unpaid domestic and care labor within their own families and its connection with mothers’ labor participation. Our preliminary findings suggest that domestic and care work has a detrimental impact in educational attainment of Brazilian girls, particularly among those from disadvantaged backgrounds, and this effect is net of household income and parental education, among other relevant factors. Supporting a substitution effect argument, mothers’ work intensity is positively associated with girls’ unpaid household work. Yet, this association varies by socioeconomic strata, being stronger for girls from disadvantaged families.

Authors

• Aida Villanueva, University of Texas-Austin

• Maria Carolina Mota Pereira Aragao, University of Texas-Austin