Child-related breaks in women’s careers and relative financial power between spouses

• In Event: 2266 - Family Section Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 9. Gender Division Labor and Women's Career Interruption

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between child-related breaks and other employment adjustments in women’s careers and the relative balance of financial power between spouses in the United States, Sweden and Japan. In particular, this study focuses on the relative income between spouses and the organisation of household income in dual-earner households. The data for the three target countries are derived from the 2012 International Social Survey Programme. The results indicate that women’s employment adjustments and career breaks have negative impacts on their incomes relative to their husbands’ in all the three countries. However, the negative impact of child-related non-employment is largest in Sweden, and Japan has the largest impact from part-time employment. It is also found that in the United States and Japan, spouses are less likely to have independently controlled financial accounts if wives had made child-related employment adjustments, but this is not the case for Sweden.

Author

• Makiko Fuwa, Tokyo Metropolitan University