National Context and Task Segregation in Housework, 1965-2003

Jennifer L. Hook, Pennsylvania State University

Recent research explores the social construction of gender in welfare states by documenting the influence of national practices and policies on men and women’s housework time. I extend this research by focusing on how national context may influence the kinds of housework that men and women do, examining sex segregation within household tasks. I analyze 36 time use surveys from 19 countries (spanning 1965 to 2003) combined with original national-level data in multilevel models. I find that men and women spend more time on sex-typical housework in nations where work hours and parental leave are long, and women are less involved in the labor market. They spend less time on sex-typical housework in nations where men are eligible to take parental leave and the public provision of childcare is greater. The results suggest that national context affects not only the amount, but the character of gender inequality in the home.