Groupe GEPP OFCE - 28/6/ 2007 Does the division of domestic labour differ after a marital separation ? Anne Solaz INED

Groupe GEPP OFCE - 28/6/ 2007

Does the division of domestic

labour differ after a marital separation ?

Anne Solaz

INED


Theories of work specialization within the couple

Economic framework specialization within marriage= main gain to

marriage (Becker) For any couple, the initial gain

to specialization will be reinforced over time as husbands and wife acquire skills specific to market or

domestic sector.

Gender role theory Gender social norms in the

society and family explain the

specialization

None of those theories predicts how would be and change the work division in a repartnering union comparing to the first one.


Specialization becomes dangerous in case of divorce

• Specialization increases the divorce cost• Exchange of marriage specific skills no more

possible • Human capital loss for divorced women who

specialize in home production (wage penalty due to interruptions, less easier return to the labour market…)

• Difficulties for divorced fathers to face alone with parental tasks


High degree of specialization may be

a source of disagreement• Housework division plays on divorce risk

(Nock & Brining 2002) • … amplified in case of unfair feeling about

household division (Craig & Sawrikar).

• Among couple regular disagreements, housework division and child education are the more frequent


Main couple disagreements topics

Desagreement on never rarely sometimes often Very often

N (population concerned)

Domestic taks 52,5% 20,8% 21,0% 4,3% 1,4% 6747 Money 57,8% 22,4% 15,4% 3,2% 1,1% 6808 Leisure organization 56,5% 24,4% 16,2% 2,2% 0,6% 6778 Friends relatinship 63,0% 22,3% 12,1% 2,0% 0,5% 6803 Parents and parents in law relationship 56,4% 19,5% 17,5% 4,7% 1,9% 5913 Children education 45,4% 23,8% 24,0% 5,3% 1,6% 3132 Child desire 77,3% 9,3% 9,6% 2,6% 1,2% 3842 Alcohol consumption 79,0% 10,2% 8,0% 1,8% 0,9% 6667 Sexual relations 68,9% 15,9% 12,2% 2,3% 0,7% 6699


AIM : Do we observe different housework division after a marital separation ?

PREVIOUS RESULTS • The effect of status of chidren (stepchildren or

not) has little effect on parental tasks division (Rapoport Lebourdais 2001)

• Women’s second union are more egalitarian (Sullivan 1997) but not men’s one (BHPS).

• Remaried men participate more than men in their first marriage (Ishii-Kuntz & Coltrane1992)


PROBLEM :

• No panel data on time use.

• No information on marital history in time use data that allows to distinguish union type, union duration.

SOLUTION: We use a demographic survey with subjective data on housework division


3 main questions

1) May the housework and parental tasks division be measured by subjective questions?

2) Is there a dynamic in specialization within the couple?

3) Does first couple failure affect the new repartnering organization?


DataFrench Generation and Gender Survey (first wave Erfi-GGS 2005)

Sample : all couples (reduced to parents for parental tasks)

Only one partner interviewed about the sharing

Size: 5500


Female overimplication indicatorsFrom subjective questions about some regular activities “Who in your household does theses tasks? “ always me(+2), usually me(+1), me or my partner equally(0), usually my partner (-1), always my partner(-2), someone else (0)

We are not interesting in total time but in the sharing, inequality between partners

3 Indicators of inequality in 8 domestic tasks (preparing meals, doing the dishes, shopping for food, vacuum-cleaning, ironing, doing small repairs, paying bills and keeping financial records, organising social activities)

6 parental tasks (dressing, putting the children to bed, staying at home when ill, playing, homework, child transportation)

4 decision process (routine purchase, occasional expensive purchase, the way children are raised, social life and leisure)


May the housework division be measured by subjective questions?

Constant 5,427 *** 1,122 ** 4,063 ***

Domestic helpNo

Yes -0,576 -1,052 *** -0,673 ***

Generation

20-29 years 30-39 years -0,375 -0,615 ** -0,344 40-49 years Ref. Ref. Ref.50-59 years 0,371 1,133 *** 0,910 ***60-69 years 2,100 1,679 *** 1,214 ***

Professional situations

Dual career couple Ref . Ref . Ref .

Both partners unemployed -1,158 -0,414 -0,560Only the man working 3,337 *** 1,414 *** 1,860 ***Only the woman working -5,453 *** -1,533 *** -1,336 ***

Age difference -0,006 -0,052 *** 0,028 *

Number of children

0 Ref . Ref . Ref .

1 0,249 0,578 0,1662 1,216 *** 1,217 *** 0,638 ***3 and more 0,952 ** 1,060 *** 0,844 ***

Child under 3 years of age Ref . Ref . Ref .

No -0,069 -0,360 -0,122Yes

Educational level

No qualificationsPrimary school certificate 1,210 ** 2,251 *** 1,462 ***Lower secondary school diploma 1,057 * 0,961 * 1,182 ***Vocational qualification 0,149 2,048 *** 0,882 ***Vocational high school diploma Ref . Ref . Ref .

General high school diploma 0,271 1,146 ** 0,978 ***2 years higher education -0,579 0,342 0,484 > 2 years higher education -0,726 0,071 -0,560 *

Number 3,430 2,488 3,024R2 0.09 0.11 0.12

0,444 1,075 * 2,129 ***

**

-2,192 ***

* *

-0,583 -0,950 **

Time Use Survey According to the men According to the women

Ref. Ref. Ref.

Objective indicator Subjective indicatorTime use diary ERFI-GGS


Index of female overimplication in domestic tasks according sex

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60-64 65-69 70-74 75-79

Age

men women


daily meals

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

others equalitarian more w oman more man

man with presenceof partnerman alone

woman withpresence of partnerwoman alone

dish washing

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70


shopping for food

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70


ironing

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100



…the presence of the partner during interview guaranties similar indicators

Female overimplication in: Parental tasks Domestic tasks Decisionsall 3,25 4,03 1,04Men 2,49 3,08 0.75Women 4,02 4,99 1,33% gender gap -47% -47% -56%

all 3,07 4,09 0,93Men 3,08 4,11 0,92Women 3,05 4,07 0,95% gender gap 1% 1% -3%

With presence of partner


0

1

2

3

4

5

6

0 - 4years

5 - 9years

10 -14years

15 - 20years

20 - 29years

30 - 39years

40 yearsand more

couple duration

parental

domestic

decisions

2) Is there a dynamic in specialization within the couple?


Housework division according to generation and couple duration

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

couple duration (years)

1976-1985

1966-1975

1956-1965

1946-1955

1936-1945


3) Does first couple failure affect the new repartnering organization?

.

0

0,5

1

1,5

2

2,5

3

3,5

4

housework parental decision

all unions

first union

others unions

Female overimplication in domestic, parental tasks and decisions according union order


Female overimplication in domestic according to union order and generation.

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

0-9 10-19 20-29 30-39 40-49

Duration of the couple in years

first union 1966-1987

first union 1946-1965

other union 1966-1987

other union 1946-1965


Econometric approach

First step : estimation of a probit on the probability of having a second union

Second step: effect of union order on housework division by IV(Instrumental variables)


Second union probability (probit)

intercept -1,594 *** -1,051 ***earlier widowhood (<50 years) 0,733 1,423 ***parent's divorce 0,524 *** 0,119values against divorce -0,631 *** -0,964 ***no religion 0,327 ** 0,115 <22 years old for the first union 0,826 *** 0,700 ***first partner had previous 0,093 0,273child(ren) during first union -0,282 ** 0,206 *first union married union -1,199 *** -1,536 ***union generation (ref=before 66) 1966-75 0,458 *** 0,678 ***

1976-85 0,545 *** 0,489 ***1986-95 0,221 *** 0,0151996- -1,018 *** -1,385 ***

Education (ref=secondary) sans -0,317 0,276 very low -0,205 0,757 **

low 1 -0,121 0,267 low 2 -0,273 -0,178

medium -0,122 0,136 high -0,121 -0,131

very high 0,027 0,274N (events)

Women Men

4150 (578) 3081 (525)


Regression (OLS and IV) on the 3 indicators of female overimplication

according to model 1partner presence 0.946 *** -1.475 *** 0.697 *** -1.334 *** 0.233 *** -0.429 ***couple duration 0.035 ** 0.051 *** 0.008 0.035 0.008 0.007union order >1 -0.735 *** -0.198 -0.009 -0.27 -0.157 * 0.074

partner presence 0.934 *** -1.472 *** 0.702 *** -1.329 *** 0.234 *** -0.427 ***couple duration 0.057 *** 0.055 *** 0.007 0.048 *** 0.012 ** 0.004 union order >1 -2.752 *** 0.485 0.103 -0.97 -0.527 * 0.656 **

model 2: with union order intrumented

controlled by domestic help, birth cohort, marital status, profesional status, number and age of children, education, individual and partner incomes

DecisionMEN WOMEN MEN WOMEN MEN WOMEN

Female overimplication in Domestic tasks Parental tasks


CONCLUSION Division of housework may be correctly measured by

subjective indicators if we control for respondent's sex and presence of partner during the interview.

Specialization in housework increases with union duration

Male second unions seem a little more egalitarian for division of housework, all other things being equal, but sharing of parental tasks and decision-making are similar in first and second unions.

Gender differences may come from different assortative matching for men and women in second union


Thank you

[email protected]


Men who will separate (between 2005 and 2008) had different domestic tasks division (in 2005)?

All 4.03 3.25 1.04the couple will separate 3.85 3.20 1.24

partners will stay together 4.20 3.31 1.08Men 3.08 2.49 0.75

the couple will separate 1.84 1.88 0.81partners will stay together 3.11 2.59 0.75

Women 4.99 4.02 1.33the couple will separate 4.93 3.82 1.47partners will stay together 5.10 3.90 1.36

Female over-implication in domestic tasks parental tasks decisions

Documents

Groupe GEPP OFCE - 28/6/ 2007 Does the division of domestic labour differ after a marital separation ? Anne Solaz INED