Single women in Britain spend an average of 10 hours a week on housework whereas
single men only spend 7 hours a week. But as soon as men and women form a union,
women tend to spend more time on housework – an average of 15 hours a week – whereas
men react in the opposite direction, falling to 5 hours a week.
Differences like this in spouses’ spending of time and money mean that on average,
women obtain only 40% of a couple’s wellbeing.
These are among the findings of new research by Hélène Couprie, published in the
January 2007 Economic Journal. Her research, which draws on data from the British
Household Panel Survey, also finds that such gender inequalities within the household
have a significant influence on gender inequalities in the workplace – and vice versa.
British women made substantial advances in terms of gender equality during the twentieth
century. The right to vote, to use birth control, to have equal access to education and to the
workplace are all established. As a consequence, observable economic indicators such as
the falling gender pay gap suggest that gender inequality has declined and could disappear
by the end of this century.
But should we be so optimistic? Maybe not. Gender relations in the private sphere are still
based on a persistent segregation of gender roles in the family. This leads to a less visible
gender inequality in terms of sharing the burden of housework and childcare, which has
indirect consequences for inequality in the workplace.
Moreover, both types of inequalities are strongly related: the persistence of gender
inequality in the public sphere may explain the persistence of gender inequality in the
private sphere – and vice versa.
What is the level of gender inequality in the average British family? This study develops a
tool to measure the level of gender inequalities in the private sphere of family life. The
principle is to evaluate and compare the wellbeing of spouses, which consists of time and
money. The evaluation is based on observation of the ‘division of labour’ mechanism of
couples and takes into account the fact that individuals may place different values on free
time, housework and consumption.
The research finds, for example, that women have more taste for housework than men:
single women spend on average 10 hours a week on housework whereas single men only
spend 7 hours a week.
But as soon as men and women form a union, there is a specialisation of labour: women
tend to spend more time on housework (15 hours a week) whereas men react in the
opposite direction (5 hours a week).
Controlling for the difference in tastes, the study calculates that the share of housework and
paid work among British couples leads to household inequality. Women obtain on average
only 40% of the couple’s wellbeing.
The research also explores the links between gender inequalities in the public and private
spheres. On one hand, the division of labour within families may explain the influence of
household inequalities on gender inequalities in the workplace. The specialisation of
women into housework may explain why women accumulate fewer skills on the labour
market and tend to be less productive or choose to lower their hours of labour market work.
This has a direct consequence for the wage gap.
On the other hand, gender inequalities in the labour market tend to worsen household
inequalities. It appears that 80% of household inequalities are driven by differences in the
labour market wage rates between spouses. Clearly, the links between household
inequalities and gender inequalities in the workplace are really tight.
ENDS
Notes for editors: ‘Time Allocation within the Family: Welfare Implications of Life in a
Couple’ by Hélène Couprie is published in the January 2007 issue of the Economic Journal.
Hélène Couprie is at the University of Toulouse.
For further information: contact Hélène Couprie via email: helene.couprie@univ-tlse1.fr;
or Romesh Vaitilingam on 07768-661095 (email: romesh@compuserve.com).