Abstract
Time-diary data from representative samples ofAmerican adults show thatthenumber ofoverall hours ofdomestic labor (excluding child care andshopping) has continued to decline steadily and predictably since 1965. This finding is mainly due todramatic declines among women (both in and out of thepaidlabor market), whohave cuttheir housework hours almostin halfsince the 1960s: abouthalfofwomen's 12-hour-per week decline can beaccountedfor bycompositional shifts - such asincreased labor force participation, later marriage, andfewer children. In contrast, men's housework time has almost doubled during thisperiod (to thepointwhere menwere responsible for a third ofhousework in the 1990s), and only about15% of theirfive-hour-per week increase can be attributed to compositional factors. Parallel results on gender differences in housework were obtained from theNational Survey of Families and Households estimate data, even though these producefigures 50%higher thandiary data. Regression results examiningfactors related to wives' andhusbands' housework hours showmore support for the time-availability and relative-resource models of household production thanfor thegender perspective, although there issome support for thelatter perspective aswell.
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