Employment Configurations and Married Couples’ Housework Time: Changing Patterns in 21st Century America

• In Event: Family Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 15: Time Use

Abstract

Despite different arguments about whether the gender revolution has stalled, most agree that further progress depends on men’s increased participation in domestic labor and a departure from essentialist views of gendered division of labor. Examining how housework time has changed among married women and men—and how these changes vary across different employment configurations between couples—is critical for understanding the mechanisms shaping the changing gendered division of domestic labor over time and for assessing whether gender inequality has continued to decline in the 21st century United States. Using data from the 2003–24 American Time Use Survey, our preliminary analyses show that in dual-earner and dual–non-employed households, the gender gap in traditionally “feminine” core housework narrowed over time, reflecting both men’s increased and women’s decreased contributions. In male-breadwinner households, the gap also declined, but only because men did more. By contrast, female-breadwinner households experienced little change.

Authors

• Hope Xu Yan, Louisiana State University

• Melissa Milkie, University of Toronto

• Liana C. Sayer, University of Maryland-College Park

• Kei Nomaguchi, Bowling Green State University