Gender Differences in the Likelihood that Work Reduction will Lead to an Increase in Leisure

Abstract

Abstract Proposals for work reduction have stressed benefits of improved leisure time and potential for a redistribution of domestic labour, with men assuming a greater share of household work. These issues are explored in a secondary analysis of the 1985 Survey on Work Reduction, a supplement to the June Labour Force Survey. Results show a greater interest in work reduction among women than men and that this preference is related to women's responsibilities for child care and domestic labour and to features of women's paid work. For women, the reduction in paid work time would be translated into increased time in domestic labour; for men, reductions would be translated into increased leisure time. Findings are discussed with respect to the connections between paid and domestic work and the place of work in the ideology of gender.