Fatherhood and Men’s Everyday Time Use in Sweden 1990-2000

Martin Dribe, Lund University
Maria A. Stanfors, Lund University

Research in many countries confirms that the transition to parenthood intensifies gendered patterns in time use and strengthens a traditional division of labor in which women do more housework and caring than men. This is also the case in Sweden today. This paper investigates the impact of fatherhood on men’s everyday workload and how it changed over the 1990s by analyzing data from two Swedish Time Use Surveys, undertaken by Statistics Sweden in 1990/91 and 2000/01. Specifically, we ask: In what way do children affect the everyday workload of mothers and fathers? Do fathers have a greater workload than childless men? What are the determinants of time use among different groups of men? The results show a clear impact of fatherhood on men’s time use and that there has, over time, been an increasing reconciliation of gender roles but there is still a traditional specialization according to gender.