Education and the division of household labor in dual-earner families

Miettinen Anneli

doi:10.23979/fypr.44958

Abstract

This article is the first report of a study on policies and the division of paid and unpaidwork in families in Finland. The article examines the division ofhousehold labor and itsdeterminants in Finnish dual-eamer families. The main objective is to examine whethereducation has any impact on the division ofunpaid work and men's participation in itcontrolling fr other variables. It was found, that among women, rising educationallevels, non-traditional attitudes and younger age cohort had a negative impact on timespent on housework, while among men only reduced time in employment and nontraditionalattitudes increased the contribution at home. While both men and womenwith higher education and non-traditional attitudes were more likely to perceive theirrelative division as more equal, an analysis of the absolute number of hours spent onhousework seems to support the notion that more equal distribution of tasks at home ismore or less a result of younger and educated women doing less housework. The datacomes from a survey conducted in 1998, in which 2,500 Finnish men and women werequestioned about time use, employment, attitudes about gender roles, work and family,andreconciliation ofwork and family. The Finnish study is part ofa Europeanresearchproject which studies the division oflabor in families in different cultural, political andsocietal settings.

Highlights

In Finland women form almost half ofthe labor force, and the labor force participation rate among married women is among the highest in Europe
The objective of this article is to examine the division of housework and its determinants in Finnish dual-eamer families using recent data, and to test the hypothesis that an increased level of education will positively affect the sharing of household duties
No significant interaction effect between factors was found in the data. This means that the effect of education is similar in all age groups, and that it plays a role among women in the younger cohorts in determining the amount of time they spend on housework

Summary

Introduction

In Finland women form almost half ofthe labor force, and the labor force participation rate among married women is among the highest in Europe. The double breadwinnermodel is well establishedin families,and women's incomeis increasinglyneeded to maintain the living standards of the families, women still continue to perform the majority of the household and child-care tasks while men provide a helping hand. Women are spending less time on household tasks while men have increased their contribution somewhat, but changes in the distribution of unpaid labor within families have been small. Increasing participation in paid labor and small changes in the distribution of unpaid work have meant that especially women's total work load has increased. The reconciliation of work and family affects both men and women in these families. Changes in working life, such as flexible working hours, pressures to work overtime, part-time working and temporary employment contracts affect increasinglythe organization of daily life. It is found to affect marital satisfaction (Pifia & Bengtson 1993) and cause conflicts and disagreements between partners (Reuna 1998; Blair 1993; Kluwer et al 1996)

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Conclusion