Gender Equality in the Division of Housework and Fertility Intentions in Canada: The Moderating Effect of Employment and Education

Abstract

Drawing on the Gender Revolution Framework, this research uses data from Canada General Social Survey and binary logistic regression to examine how the gender division of housework influences fertility intentions among partnered women aged 18–39 ( N = 1589), across various employment and education levels. Unadjusted results showed that women who shared household routine tasks (cooking, cleaning, dishes, and laundry) and intermittent tasks (grocery shopping, organizing social life, finance, and bill paying) with their partner had higher intentions to have children. The adjusted findings revealed that women’s employment status moderated the relationship between gender division of household routine tasks and fertility intentions, while education had no significant moderating effect. Employed women who did not share equally household routine tasks with their spouse had a lower probability of intention to have children (0.22), compared to their unemployed counterparts (0.48). The findings have significant implications for social and family policies that are discussed in detail.