Housework Share between Partners: Experimental Evidence on Gender Identity

Key takeaways

(file:///C:\Users\scott\Zotero\storage\68MIYHTQ\Auspurg%20et%20al.%20-%202014%20-%20Housework%20Share%20between%20Partners%20Experimental%20Evi.pdf)

Bibliography: Auspurg, K., Iacovou, M., Nicoletti, C., 2014. Housework Share between Partners: Experimental Evidence on Gender Identity. SSRN Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2514762

Authors:: Katrin Auspurg, Maria Iacovou, Cheti Nicoletti

Collections:: Gender Scale

First-page: -1

Abstract

Using an experimental design, we investigate the reasons behind the gendered division of housework within couples. In particular, we assess whether the fact that women do more housework than men may be explained by differences in preferences deriving from differences in gender identity between men and women. We find little evidence of any systematic gender differences in the preference for housework, suggesting that the reasons for the gendered division of housework lie elsewhere.

Citations

content: "@auspurgHouseworkSharePartners2014" -file:@auspurgHouseworkSharePartners2014

Reading notes

Imported on 2025-04-27 17:39

⭐ Important

& Women do more housework than men. For most of history this phenomenon went largely unremarked: housework was what women did, while men supported their families with paid work. However, the role of women has been changing: women’s educational levels are now as good as, or better than, those of men; most women do paid work for most of their adult lives; and although gender pay gaps still exist, women’s earnings (in particular, the earnings of younger childless women) have been gradually approaching those of men. While things have also been changing in the domestic sphere, with men doing an increasing share of housework and childcare, surveys still show that women do the lion’s share of housework – even in households where both partners have fulltime paid jobs. (p. -1)
& This paper takes a different approach, using data from an experiment conducted in the course of the Innovation Panel of Understanding Society. Men and women were presented with hypothetical scenarios (“vignettes”) in which several factors varied: the distribution of housework; the distribution of paid work; earnings; the presence of children; and whether the couple had paid help with housework. Each respondent was presented with three different scenarios, and was asked to rate how satisfied they would be with each scenario on a scale from 1 (completely dissatisfied) to 7 (completely satisfied). In all, 4,547 valid responses were obtained from 1,609 respondents. (p. -1)
& There do not seem to be substantial gender differences in preferences over housework arrangements. Both men and women prefer scenarios in which housework is shared equally between members of a couple. Nevertheless, in situations where there is an unequal sharing of paid work between partners, women seem to have a stronger preference then men for adjusting their housework share in response to their paid work share. (p. -1)
& We therefore conclude that the higher share of housework usually done by women cannot be explained by gender differences in the utility that men and women derive from doing housework. (p. -1)