How mothers and fathers share childcare: A cross-national time-use comparison

• Published in: American sociological review 2011-12, Vol.76 (6), p.834-861
• Main Authors: Craig, Lyn, Mullan, Killian
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arbeitsteilung; Attitudes; Australia; Australien; Beruf; Caring; Child care; Child Care Services; Child Rearing; Child. Socialization; Childrearing Practices; Children; Children & youth; Comparative Analysis; Couples; Cross-national analysis; Cultural attitudes; Denmark; Division of labor; Division of labour; Dänemark; Education; Employed Parents; Employed Women; Employment; Employment Patterns; Equality; Erwerbstätiger; Erwerbstätigkeit; Familie; Families & family life; Family; Family (Sociological Unit); Family policy; Family work relationship; Fathers; Females; France; Frankreich; Frau; Gender; Gender differentiation; Gender equality; Gender equity; Gender inequality; Geschlechtsspezifik; Heads of Households; Households; Housework; Ideology; Institution; Interaction; International comparisons; Internationaler Vergleich; Italien; Italy; Kinderbetreuung; Labor market; Males; Married couples; Men; Mothers; Mutter; Parent-child relations; Parenting; Parents; Parents & parenting; Persistence; Relatives; Routine activities; Sex; Sexual division of labor; Sexuality. Marriage. Family relations; Social Environment; Social policy; Sociology; Sociology of the family. Age groups; Sozialer Faktor; Specialization; Spouses; Studies; Time; Time use; Values; Vater; Woman social status. Women's emancipation; Women; Work organization; Working mothers; Zeitverwendung
• ISSN: 0003-1224; 1939-8271
• DOI: 10.1177/0003122411427673

"In most families today, childcare remains divided unequally between fathers and mothers. Scholars argue that persistence of the gendered division of childcare is due to multiple causes, including values about gender and family, disparities in paid work, class, and social context. It is likely that all of these factors interact, but to date researchers have not explored such interactions. To address this gap, we analyze nationally representative time-use data from Australia, Denmark, France, and Italy. These countries have different employment patterns, social and family policies, and cultural attitudes toward parenting and gender equality. Using data from matched married couples, we conduct a cross-national study of mothers' and fathers' relative time in childcare, divided along dimensions of task (i.e., routine versus non-routine activities) and co-presence (i.e., caring for children together as a couple versus caring solo). Results show that mothers' and fathers' work arrangements and education relate modestly to shares of childcare, and this relationship differs across countries. We find cross-national variation in whether more equal shares result from the behavior of mothers, fathers, or both spouses. Results illustrate the relevance of social context in accentuating or minimizing the impact of individual- and household-level characteristics." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku). Die Untersuchung enthält quantitative Daten. Forschungsmethode: empirisch; Querschnitt. Die Untersuchung bezieht sich auf den Zeitraum 1999 bis 2008.