Efficiency versus gender roles and stereotypes: an experiment in domestic production

Abstract

Empirical studies cast doubts upon the efficiency assumption made in standard economic models of household behavior. The allocation of time among men and women between market and household work is highly differentiated by gender. In this paper we examine whether couples deviate from efficiency in household production, using an experimental design. We compare the allocation of gendered vs. neutral tasks. Our results show that women in the household overspecialize in "feminine tasks" and men in "masculine tasks" compared to what their comparative advantage would require, hence revealing the influence of gender roles and stereotypes on the couples' behavior.In most countries, the allocation of time-uses remains highly differentiated by gender (Goldschmidt-Clermont and Pagnossin-Aligisakis 1995). Gender inequalities in the sharing of domestic work remain persistent despite the decline in the gender pay gap (Aguiar and Hurst 2007). This observation is puzzling under standard economic assumptions, and is far from being satisfactorily explained by economists. The aim of this paper is to investigate productive efficiency in the household through an incentivized experiment involving established couples and further explore the role of task preferences, gender roles and stereotypes in spouses' specialization choices. In Europe, men spend 55 to 65 percent of their working time in market work, and 35 to 45 percent in household work (Aliaga and Winqvist 2003). Women spend 60 to 70 percent of their working time on domestic tasks and 30 to 40 percent in paid-work and they still carry most of the burdens of household work 1 . This biased specialization of women in household duties and of men in market activities is very likely to interact strongly with women's situation in the labor market. Persisting gender differences in wage rates (Blau and Kahn 2006) and earned incomes, through shorter work duration, as well as through flatter careers, could be the consequence of the unequal sharing of domestic work within the family. Productivity differences between men and women in market activities could explain why their time-allocation decisions differ. However, empirical studies show that variables reflecting productivity in the labor market, such as wage rates and education, are far from being the only factors driving the gendered division of labor (Hersch and Stratton 1994; Aronsson et al. 2001; Anxo et al. 2002; Rapoport and Sofer 2005; Kalenkoski et al. 2009). Using the French Time-Use Survey, Rizavi and Sofer (2010) show that when a woman earns a higher wage than her partner, there is no role reversal. Sevilla-Sanz et al. (2010) find similar results in Spanish data. In the US and in Australia, the gender gap in non-market work is even 1 In France, in 2009, women contributed approximately 80 percent of domestic chores (Régnier-Loilier 2009).

Intra-household inequality, fairness and productivity. Evidence from a real effort experiment

“…Since the same effect is not present for changes in tax rates that produce the same net wage they conclude that the men's behaviour might best be explained as an issue of identity. Such a conclusion concurs with the work of Couprie et al (2015) in France who find that when tasks are gendered (e.g. sorting socks or tightening bolts), assignment of responsibilities sometimes goes against the pattern of specialisation dictated by comparative advantage.…”

“…Second, though there has been growing interest in experiments that examine the decisions of married couples (e.g. Iversen et al (2010), Hoel (2015), Dasgupta and Mani (2015)) the role of production and the rules of entitlement in intra-household decisions has been largely neglected (though see Schröder et al (2013), Couprie et al (2015), Cochard et al (2018) and Aoyagi and Munro (2018) for a few, recent exceptions), despite the fact that, in many societies, production is a fundamental aspect of household livelihoods. Many of the pre-existing experiments using modified public good or dictator games and find that few households make decisions that are efficient.…”

Regional Analysis of the Impact of the 2020 Health Crisis on the Private-Sector Wage Bill: Structural and Local Effects

“…Shopping is included in the second category, together with gardening, pet care and other tasks that can be considered as semi-leisure (Kahneman et al, 2004). Using an experiment, Couprie et al (2020) investigate the influence of gender stereotypes and find that partners overspecialize in specific tasks in accordance with gender role. Interestingly, Stratton (2012) shows that the more men dislike doing housework, the less they are committed to it and the more time their partner spends on it.…”

“…Shopping could have been considered a risky activity due to the pandemic, and men could have assumed their traditional role of 'protector' of the family, taking the risk upon themselves. In this scenario, shopping was likely to become a male-connoted task and the household's choice was to conform to social gender roles (Couprie et al, 2020). 29.…”

Ingreso relativo, identidad de género y brecha en el trabajo doméstico no remunerado: Evidencia para Colombia

“…Frente a altos niveles de desarrollo profesional, económico y/o educativo de la mujer relativo a su pareja, los roles dentro del trabajo doméstico no cambian (Ponthieux y Meurs, 2015;Rizavi y Sofer, 2010;Sofer y Thibout, 2019). De este modo, se concluye que deben existir otros factores no convencionales que explican esta desigualdad, tales como las preferencias, reglas sociales de comportamiento y/o estereotipos sobre las habilidades a la hora de realizar trabajo doméstico (Couprie, Cudeville y Sofer, 2015).…”