Household division of labour: The impact of hours worked in paid employment

Abstract

One hundred and four married couples were recruited for a survey concerning various aspects of their marriages. The present report focuses on the division of labour within the family, and how this is related to hours worked in paid employment for both husbands and wives. Household chores, childcare activities and financial responsibilities were investigated separately. A marked division of labour was found, with wives performing more of the housework and childcare, while husbands had greater influence in financial matters. Longer working hours for husbands were associated with them being less involved in household chores and childcare, and more involved in financial decision making and having more overall financial influence. While longer working hours for wives were associated with a reduction in housework and time spent doing it, there were no differences with regard to childcare activities. Whether wives were in paid employment or not, and regardless of the number of hours worked, they were involved with their children to the same extent. In the financial area, longer working hours for wives were associated with increased involvement in making payments and increased sharing in both financial decision making and making payments. While it was found that husbands of working wives do statistically more household chores than those of non‐working wives, they actually increase their workload very little and wives continue to do the bulk of the family work.