Racial-Ethnic Differences in U.S. Married Women’s and Men’s Housework

Abstract

Gender, Housework, Race-ethnicity,

Gender, ethnicity and the division of household labour within heterosexual couples in Australia

“…Overall, our findings are consistent with those of the few existing US studies on ethnic differences in the gender division of household labour, and support the argument that classical theories do not have equal explanatory power for all ethnic groups (Sayer and Fine, 2010;Wight et al, 2013). Our results showed differences in the applicability of the three theoretical perspectives to housework-related behaviours for individuals within each ethnic group.…”

“…Also using US data, in this case from the National Survey of Families and Households, Shelton and John (1993) found that 'Hispanic' husbands did more housework hours than 'White' husbands. A more recent study by Sayer and Fine (2010), using a sample of 26,795 married individuals from the American Time Use Study (ATUS) showed that 'Asian' and 'Hispanic' wives do more housework than 'Black' and 'White' wives, but there were no ethnic differences in men's housework time. Wight et al (2013) further investigated the explanatory power of the three theoretical perspectives outlined above on different ethnic groups, using the ATUS dataset.…”

“…To explain these gendered divisions of household labour three main theoretical approaches have been used: the 'time availability', 'relative resources' and 'doing gender' perspectives (Baxter, 2002;Bianchi et al, 2000;Kan, 2008). However, most research has focused on majority ethnic groups and only a few studies have examined differences between and within ethnic groups, all of which have concentrated in the US (Beckett and Smith, 1981;Coltrane and Shih, 2010;Sayer and Fine, 2010;Shelton and John, 1994;Wight et al, 2013).…”

An empirical investigation into the time-use and activity patterns of dual-earner couples with and without young children

“…The results reveal that employed women are less likely to participate in out-of-home work on any given day compared to employed men. Also, women are much more likely to undertake maintenance (both in-home and out-ofhome) and out-of-home shopping activities, reinforcing the stereotype of women assuming the responsibility or burden of household chores (see Leonard, 2001, Parkman, 2004, Srinivasan and Bhat, 2005, Braun et al, 2008, and Sayer and Fine, 2011 for a similar result). At the same time, and perhaps in part because of the time investment in maintenance and shopping activities, women participate less in in-home recreational and physical activities (in-home as well as out-of-home), as indicated by the negative coefficients corresponding to the female variable for these alternatives.…”

Marital Status and Mothers’ Time Use: Childcare, Housework, Leisure, and Sleep

“…Given the high correlation between race and single motherhood in the United States (Sweeney and Raley 2014), variation in mothers’ time use may be a reflection of disparities in socioeconomic backgrounds that vary systematically by marital status. White and black women do less housework compared with Asian and Latina women (Sayer and Fine 2011). Never-married mothers are more likely than married mothers to live in housing that lacks conveniences like on-site washers and dryers and large refrigerators (Desmond 2016); therefore, we might expect the time demands of doing laundry, grocery shopping, and cooking to be greater for never-married mothers.…”