The Residential Context and the Division of Household and Childcare Tasks

Abstract

This paper reports a study of the division of household and childcare tasks between partners from a time–space perspective. Data from the 2005 Netherlands Kinship Panel Study and the 2004 ABF Real Estate Monitor are used. The impact of the residential context on the division of household and childcare tasks is studied, taking into account the endogeneity of time spent in paid work for the division of unpaid tasks. The findings suggest that the residential context is an important factor explaining the intrahousehold allocation of unpaid tasks. We found an indirect effect of living in a large city and of job access on the division of household tasks, running via the number of hours worked by the female partner: women living in large cities work more hours, and this leads to a greater likelihood of a nontraditional division of household tasks. There is also a direct effect of living in a large city on the likelihood of a nontraditional division of household tasks, but not on the likelihood of a nontraditional division of childcare tasks.