Abstract
This study provides empirical evidence on the relationship between the amount of time devoted to housework and childcare in Spanish dual-earner couples and several observable characteristics, paying particular attention to individual and relative earnings. We use daily data drawn from the latest Spanish Time Use Survey (2009–2010). Results show that the time that women spend on housework depends on their relative income. The time allocated by women to housework decreases until they contribute to half of the household income; however, as women’s earnings rise above those of their partners, the amount of housework they perform increases, which supports the compensatory gender display. There is not a clear relationship between the time devoted to housework and their absolute income. For men, relative income has also a negative association with household chores while absolute income does not affect the time they dedicate to housework. Regarding childcare, the time spent by women and men on caring for their children does not depend on either relative or absolute earnings.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
These advances in the role played by women in the labor market have also been accompanied by a thorough transformation of the family model. Some of these facts are reflected for instance in a decrease of the fertility rate, delayed maternity, an increase of the divorce rate, a higher number of unmarried couples with children or even single parents. According to the Spanish Statistical Institute (INE), the fertility rate felt from 2.8 in 1975 to 1.4 in 2010; the mean age of women at the birth of their first child was 31.2 years in 2010 (32.1 in 2017) while in 1980 it was 28.9; in 2010 for every 100 weddings there were 70 divorces, however, in 1991 the number of divorces was 12.5; the share of births outside marriage in 1990 was 9.6%, rising to 35.5% in 2010 (46.8% in 2017).
We are aware that working full time can hide big differences in the time spent on paid work. However, the survey does not provide sufficiently reliable information to be able to identify such differences. Therefore, we consider that studying couples who declare to work full-time is a reasonable approach to the purpose of this study.
It is worth mentioning that, as there is a certain amount of missing data on the income variable, we have decided to use only those couples where both members report data on income. We consider that the most appropriate methodological option is not to impute data because data imputation can cause serious problems of underestimation of true variance and standard error. This could be detrimental to the accurate interpretation of the results.
To compute the age-group we have taken into account the presence of at least one child of this age-group.
Capturing time spent on childcare is not easy (Sevilla-Sanz et al. 2010) because a high proportion of childcare time takes place at the same time as other activities. Thus, in many studies, time spent on childcare is considered to be underestimated (Robinson and Godbey 1997; Pacholok and Gauthier 2004).
We have re-estimated our models using as a dependent variable, on the one hand, the time dedicated to tasks normally performed by women and, on the other hand, the time dedicated to tasks normally performed by men. The categorization of tasks as feminine or masculine has been carried out taking into account the time that men and women dedicated to each one of them. Thus, we have considered as typically feminine tasks: cooking, cleaning, and laundry. As masculine tasks are included: gardening and pets, maintenance and repairs, shopping and household management.
The results show that, in the case of women, domestic service maintains the negative and statistically significant sign only when the dependent variable refers to female tasks. This variable is not statistically significant when only male tasks are considered. In the case of men, domestic service is not statistically significant in either case. These findings confirm the idea that domestic service is primarily used for tasks typically performed by women, which are more routinely and time-intensive. Results from these estimations are available upon request.
Results from Tobit model are slightly different since this variable is not statistically significant.
References
Ajenjo, M., & García, J. (2014). Cambios en el uso del tiempo de las parejas ¿Estamos en el camino hacia una mayor igualdad. Revista Internacional de Sociología,72(2), 453–476. https://doi.org/10.3989/ris.2012.05.28.
Álvarez, B., & Miles, D. (2003). Gender effect on housework allocation: Evidence from Spanish two-earner couples. Journal of Population Economics,16, 227–242. https://doi.org/10.1007/s001480200126.
Baxter, J. (1992). Domestic labour and income inequality. Work, Employment, and Society,6, 229–249. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017092006002005.
Baxter, J. (2002). Patterns of change and stability in the gender division of household labour in Australia, 1996–1997. Journal of Sociology,38(4), 399–424. https://doi.org/10.1177/144078302128756750.
Baxter, J., & Hewitt, B. (2013). Negotiating domestic labor: Women’s earnings and housework time in Australia. Feminist Economics,19(1), 29–53. https://doi.org/10.1080/13545701.2012.744138.
Baxter, J., Hewitt, B., & Haynes, M. (2008). Life course transitions and housework: Marriage, parenthood, and time on housework. Journal of Marriage and Family,70(2), 259–272. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2008.00479.x.
Becker, G. (1991). A treatise on the family. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Bianchi, S. M., Cohen, P., Raley, S., & Nomaguchi, K. (2004). Inequality in parental investments in child-rearing: Time, expenditures, and health. In K. Neckerman (Ed.), Social inequality (pp. 189–219). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Bianchi, S. M., Milkie, M. A., Sayer, L. C., & Robinson, J. P. (2000). Is anyone doing the housework? Trends in the gender division of household labor. Social Forces,79(1), 191–228. https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/79.1.191.
Bianchi, S. M., Robinson, J. P., & Milkie, M. (2006). Changing rhythms of American family life. American Sociological Association. New York: Russel Sage Foundation.
Bittman, M., England, P., Folbre, N., Sayer, L., & Matheson, G. (2003). When does gender trump money? Bargaining and time in household work. American Journal of Sociology,109, 186–221. https://doi.org/10.1086/378341.
Bloemen, H. G., Pasqua, S., & Stancanelli, E. G. (2010). An empirical analysis of the time allocation of Italian couples: Are they responsive? Review of the Economics of the Household,8, 345–369. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11150-009-9083-4.
Bloemen, H. G., & Stancanelli, E. G. (2008). How do spouses allocate time: The effects of wages and income? IZA DP Nº 3679, September.
Bound, J., Jaeger, D. A., & Baker, R. M. (1995). Problems with instrumental variables estimation when the correlation between the instruments and the endogenous explanatory variable is weak. Journal of the American Statistical Association,90, 443–450. https://doi.org/10.1080/01621459.1995.10476536.
Brines, J. (1994). Economic dependency, gender, and the division of labor at home. American Journal of Sociology,100, 652–688. https://doi.org/10.1086/230577.
Carrasco, C., & Dominguez, M. (2011). Family strategies for meeting care and domestic work needs: Evidence from Spain. Feminist Economics,17(4), 159–188. https://doi.org/10.1080/13545701.2011.614625.
Carrasco, C. & Rodriguez, A., (2000). Women, families, and work in Spain: Structural changes and new demands. Feminist Economics, 6, 45–57. https://doi.org/10.1080/135457000337660.
Cohen, P. N. (1998). Replacing housework in the service economy: Gender, class, and race-ethnicity in service spending. Gender & Society,12, 219–231. https://doi.org/10.1177/089124398012002006.
Connelly, R., & Kimmel, J. (2009). Spousal influences on parents’ non-market time choices. Review of Economics of the Household,7(4), 361–394. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11150-009-9060-y.
Connelly, R., & Kimmel, J. (2015). If you're happy and you know it: How do mothers and fathers in The US really feel about caring for their children? Feminist Economics,21(1), 1–34. https://doi.org/10.1080/13545701.2014.970210.
Coverman, S. (1983). Gender, domestic labor time, and wage inequality. American Sociological Review,48, 623–637. https://doi.org/10.2307/2094923.
Coverman, S. (1985). Explaining husbands’ participation in domestic labor. The Sociologid Quarterly,26(1), 81–97. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1533-8525.1985.tb00217.x.
Craig, L. (2002). Caring differently: A time use analysis of the type and social context of childcare performed by fathers and by mothers. Social Policy Research Centre discussion paper 118, Sydney, Australia.
Craig, L. (2006a). Does father care mean fathers share? A comparison of how mothers and fathers in intact families spend time with children. Gender & Society,20(2), 259–281. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243205285212.
Craig, L. (2006b). Parental education, time in work and time with children: An Australian time-diary analysis. British Journal of Sociology,57(4), 553–575. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-4446.2006.00125.x.
Craig, L. (2007). How employed mothers in Australia find time for both market work and childcare. Journal of Family and Economic Issues,28, 69–87. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-006-9047-2.
Craig, L., & Baxter, J. (2014). Domestic outsourcing, housework shares and subjective time pressure; gender differences in the correlates of hiring help. Social Indicators Research,125, 271–288. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-014-0833-1.
Craig, L., & Bittman, M. (2005). The effect of children on adults’ time-use: Analysis of the incremental time costs of children in Australia. SPRC discussion paper, no. 143 (pp. 3–37).
Craig, L., & Bittman, M. (2008). The incremental time costs of children: An analysis of children’s impact on adult time use in Australia. Feminist Economics,14(2), 59–88. https://doi.org/10.1080/13545700701880999.
Craig, L., & Sawrikar, P. (2009). Work and family: How does the (gender) balance change as children grow? Gender, Work and Organization,16(6), 684–709. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0432.2009.00481.x.
Datta Gupta, N., & Stratton, L. S. (2010). Examining the impact of alternative power measures on individual time use in American and Danish couple of households. Review of Economics of the Households,8(3), 325–343. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11150-009-9073-6.
Dema, S. (2005). Entre la tradición y la modernidad: las parejas españolas de doble ingreso. PAPERS Revista de Sociología, 77, 135–155. https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/papers/v77n0.934.
Domínguez, M. (2012). La división del trabajo doméstico en las parejas españolas. Un análisis del uso del tiempo. Revista Internacional de Sociología,70(1), 153–179. https://doi.org/10.3989/ris.2009.08.26.
Evertsson, M., & Nermo, M. (2004). Dependence within families and the division of labor. Comparing Sweden and the United States. Journal of Marriage and Family,66, 1272–1286. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0022-2445.2004.00092.x.
Fernandez, C. & Sevilla-Sanz, A. (2006). Social norms and household time allocation. In ISER Working Paper Series 2006-38, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
Foster, G., & Kalenkoski, C h M. (2013). Tobit or OLS? An empirical evaluation under different diary window lengths. Applied Economics,15(20), 20994–23010. https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2012.690852.
Freund, R. J., & Littell, R. C. (2000). SAS system for regression (3rd ed.). Cary, NC: SAS Institute.
Gershuny, J. (2000). Changing times: Work and leisure in postindustrial society. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Goñi-Legaz, S., Ollo-López, A., & Bayo-Moriones, A. (2010). The division of household labor in Spanish dual earner couples: Testing three theories. Sex Roles, 63, 515–529. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-010-9840-0.
González, M. J., Domínguez, M., & Baizán, P. (2010). Cuidado parental en la infancia y desigualdad social: un estudio sobre la Encuesta de Empleo del Tiempo en España. Documento de Trabajo 158/2010, Fundación Alternativas.
Greene, W. H. (1997). Econometric analysis (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Greenstein, T. N. (2000). Economic dependence, gender, and the division of labor in the home: A replication and extension. Journal of Marriage and Family,6, 322–335. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2000.00322.x.
Gupta, S. (1999). The effects of transition in marital status on men’s performance of housework. Journal of Marriage and Family,61(3), 700–711. https://doi.org/10.2307/353571.
Gupta, S. (2006). Her money, her time: Women’s earnings and their housework hours. Social Science Research,35(4), 975–999. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2005.07.003.
Gupta, S. (2007). Autonomy, dependence, or display? The relationship between married women’s earnings and housework. Journal of Marriage and Family,69(2), 399–417. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2007.00373.x.
Guryan, J., Hurst, E., & Kearney, M. (2008). Parental education and parental time with children. Journal of Economic Perspectives,22(3), 23–46. https://doi.org/10.3386/w13993.
Gutierrez-Domenech, M. (2010). Parental employment and time with children in Spain. Review of Economics of the Household,8(3), 371–391. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11150-010-9096-z.
Hallberg, D., & Klevmarken, A. J. (2003). Time for children: A study of parent's time allocation. Journal of Population Economics,16(2), 205–226. https://doi.org/10.1007/s001480200133.
Hersch, J. (1991). The impact of non-market work on market wages. The American Economic Review,81, 157–160.
Hersch, J., & Stratton, L. S. (1994). Housework, wages, and the division of housework time for employed spouses. American Economic Review,84(2), 120–125.
Hersch, J., & Stratton, L. S. (1997). Housework, fixed effects, and wages of married workers. The Journal of Human Resources,32, 285–307. https://doi.org/10.2307/146216.
Hill, E. J., Martinson, V. K., Ferris, M., & Zenger Baker, R. (2004). Beyond the mommy track: The influence of new-concept part-time work for professional women on work and family. Journal of Family and Economic Issues,25(1), 121–136. https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JEEI.0000016726.06264.91.
Ironmonger, D. (2004). Bringing up Bobby and Betty: The inputs and outputs of childcare time. In M. Bittman & N. Folbre (Eds.), Family time: The social organization of care (pp. 93–109). New York: Routledge.
Kalenkoski, C. M., Ribar, D. C., & Stratton, L. S. (2009). The influence of wages on parents’ time allocation of time to childcare and market work in the United Kingdom. Journal of Population Economics,22(2), 399–419. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-008-0192-9.
Kalenkoski, C. M., Ribar, D. C., & Stratton, L. S. (2011). How do adolescents spell time use? An alternative methodological approach for analyzing time diary data. Research in Labor Economics,33, 1–44. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0147-9121(2011)0000033004.
Killewald, A. (2011). Opting out and buying out: Wives' earnings and housework time. Journal of Marriage and Family,73(2), 459–471. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2010.00818.x.
Killewald, A., & Gough, M. (2010). Money isn’t everything: Wives’ earnings and housework time. Social Science Research,39(6), 987–1003. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2010.08.005.
Kimmel, J., & Connelly, R. (2007). Mothers' time choices: Caregiving, leisure, home production, and paid work. Journal of Human Resources,42(3), 643–681. https://doi.org/10.3368/jhr.XLII.3.643.
Lundberg, S., & Pollak, R. A. (1996). Bargaining and distribution in marriage. Journal of Economic Perspectives,10(4), 139–158. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.10.4.139.
Maassen van den Brink, H., & Groot, W. (1997). A household production model of paid labor, household work and childcare. De Economist,145(3), 325–343. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1003004126863.
Manser, M., & Brown, M. (1980). Marriage and household decision-making: A bargaining analysis. International Economic Review,21(1), 31–44. https://doi.org/10.2307/2526238.
Marshall, K. (1993). Employed parents and the division of housework. Perspectives on Labour and Income.,5(3), 23–30. Statistics Canada. Cat. No. 75-001E.
McElroy, M., & Horney, M. J. (1981). Nash-bargaining decisions making: A bargaining analysis. International Economic Review,22(2), 333–349. https://doi.org/10.2307/2526280.
Noonan, M. C. (2001). The impact of domestic work on men and women’s wages. Journal of Marriage and Family,63, 1134–1145. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2001.01134.x.
O’Brien, R. M. (2007). A caution regarding rules of thumb for variance inflation factors. Quality & Quantity,41, 673–690. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-006-9018-6.
Oropesa, R. S. (1993). Using the service economy to relieve the double burden: Female labor force participation and service purchases. Journal of Family Issues,14(3), 438–473. https://doi.org/10.1177/019251393014003006.
Pacholok, S., & Gauthier, A. H. (2004). A tale of dual-earner families in four countries. In N. Nancy Folbre, & M. Bittman (Eds.), Family time: The social organization of care (pp. 197–223). London: Routledge.
Phipps, S., Burton, P., & Osberg, L. (2011). Time as a source of inequality within marriage: Are husbands more satisfied with time for themselves than wives? Feminist Economics,7(2), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/1354700110068261.
Robinson, J. P., & Godbey, G. (1997). Time for life. The surprising ways Americans use their time. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.
Sayer, L. C. (2005). Gender, time and inequality: Trends in women and men's paid work, unpaid work and free time. Social Forces,84(1), 285–303. https://doi.org/10.1353/sof.2005.0126.
Sayer, L. C., Gauthier, A. H., & Furstenberg, F. F. (2004). Educational differences in parents’ time with children: Cross-national variations. Journal of Marriage and Family,66(5), 1152–1169. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0022-2445.2004.00084.x.
Sevilla-Sanz, A., Giménez-Nadal, J. I., & Fernández, C. (2010). Gender roles and the division of unpaid work in Spanish households. Feminist Economics,16(4), 137–184. https://doi.org/10.1080/13545701.2010.531197.
Stewart, J. (2013). Tobit or not tobit? Journal of Economic and Social Measurement,38(3), 263–290.
Sullivan, O. (1997). Time waits for no wo(man): An investigation of the gendered experience of domestic time. Sociology,31(2), 221–239.
West, C., & Zimmermand, D. H. (1987). Doing gender. Gender and Society,1(2), 125–151. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243287001002002.
Windebank, J. (2007). Outsourcing women's domestic labour: The Chèque Emploi-Service Universel in France. Journal of European Social Policy,17(3), 257–270. https://doi.org/10.1177/0958928707078368.
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the financial support from the Research Group by the Basque Government «Institutions, Regulation and Economic Policy» (IT1052-16). The authors thank four anonymous referees and the editor of this journal for helpful comments.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Altuzarra, A., Gálvez-Gálvez, C. & González-Flores, A. Do Spanish Dual-Earner Couples Share Unpaid Work Equally?. Soc Indic Res 150, 731–763 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-020-02346-3
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-020-02346-3