Educational Disparities in Mothers’ Unpaid Labor: Immigrant and Hispanic Outsourcing Contexts and Housework-Childcare Allocation

• In Event: Sociology of Sex and Gender Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 7. Parenting, Household Labor, and Family Negotiation

Abstract

Education is a key axis of disparity in unpaid labor time among mothers: college-educated mothers spend less time on housework and more time on childcare than mothers without college degrees. While existing research largely focuses on educational differences in the absolute time spent on unpaid labor, less is known about differences in its composition. By highlighting the hierarchy within unpaid labor, composition serves as an important proxy for domestic outsourcing mechanisms, particularly in the U.S. context where individual-level data on outsourcing is limited. The ability to outsource housework depends on its affordability. As feminist scholars highlight, the racialization of workers performing outsourced labor is central to its devaluation and associated low market price. This paper examines the association between the proportion of unpaid labor time dedicated to childcare and the state-level concentration of (1) immigrants and (2) Hispanic workers in domestic outsourcing occupations. One of the key findings is that the over-representation of Hispanic workers in these occupations is positively associated with the proportion of childcare time among mothers without college degrees, whereas the link is trivial among college-educated mothers. Another key finding is that while the over-representation of immigrant workers in domestic outsourcing occupations has limited influence, the general share of immigrants in domestic outsourcing occupations is positively associated with a higher proportion of childcare time among college-educated mothers, but not for mothers without college degrees.

Author

• Hyunjae Kwon, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities