Self-employed and Employed Mothers in Latin American Families: Are There Differences in Paid Work, Unpaid Work, and Child Care?

Abstract

We analyzed the time self-employed and employed mothers from Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia devoted to paid work, unpaid work, and child care, finding that self-employed mothers devoted less time to paid work, and more time to unpaid work and child care, compared to employed mothers in those countries, and that self-employed mothers in Mexico, Ecuador, and Colombia devoted comparatively more time to educational child care, compared to employed mothers. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that working mothers may choose self-employment as a way to improve their work-life balance.