GUPPY - Social Change and the Gendered Division of Household Labor in Canada

Question 1

How can we understand changing patterns in society?

Answer 1

changing patterns of time allocation in the gender division of household labor can potentially be understood as a consequence of:

cultural,

structural,

and demographic changes in society.

Question 2

What are two major findings on the gender division of household labor?

Answer 2

(i) domestic chores remain gender segregated even though gender convergence in time allocation continues

(ii) more of the change seems due to women’s behavior than men’s

Question 3

(Three major social forces explaining gender convergence)

1. Cultural

What cultural shift has been happening is Western society

Answer 3

Common to all is the argument that a value
shift in advanced Western democracies has ignited a heightened concern
with individualism and self-expressiveness overwhelming worries about
basic material well-being.

Question 4

(Three major social forces explaining gender convergence)

1. Culture

How has the cultural shift benefited women?

Answer 4

This stress on values and ideas, especially those congruent with equality and human rights, has potential benefit for women in particular

Question 5

(Three major social forces explaining gender convergence)

1. Culture

What are two important things to note?

Answer 5

1. First, egalitarian partnerships may first arise among cultural forerunners, those subcultural groups most likely to adopt new behavior patterns.
   One could anticipate that more
   educated people who are more likely to be egalitarian and liberal-minded will share housework more equally
2. Second, this value shift in cultural orientations could be so widely diffused that gender convergence may be all encompassing

Question 6

(Three major social forces explaining gender convergence)

2. Structural

What kinds of structural changes are happening?

Answer 6

married mothers become “co-breadwinners” and married fathers become “co-nurturers.”

more and more women gain higher levels
of education

Women and men in market work

Question 7

(Three major social forces explaining gender convergence)

3. Demographic

What are the demographic transitions happening?

Answer 7

1. transition linked falling birth and death
   rates to increased economic development
2. stressing subreplacement fertility, more diverse family forms, greater longevity, and increased migration, has likewise been linked to broader social developments
   (From traditional paternalistic views to: d postmaterialist values, greater secularism, egalitarianism, expressive values, and individual autonomy)

Question 8

(Three major social forces explaining gender convergence)

3. Demographic

What is an important demographic transition with the family?

Answer 8

Smaller families

Question 9

What type of study is this?

Answer 9

cross-sectional survey (stats canada)

ppl use a daily diary

Look at participation rates and time allocation

Question 10

What results did they find with time allocated to domestic labor?

Answer 10

monotonic gender convergence

• Men doing more

Men and women starting to balance out: men’s time on task has increased by over 32 percent while women’s has declined by about 22 percent.
IMPORTANT: This evidence shows fairly symmetrical changes on the part of women and men

Question 11

How has time devoted to childcare changed?

Answer 11

reveals gender convergence

Nevertheless the time devoted to caring for children has increased. Both women and men commit more time to childcare now (men are doing more, not just feminized task now)

Note: . Although in 2015 women
spent more time on childcare than men, a shrinking percentage of women
reported participating in childcare, in keeping with smaller family sizes

Question 12

Do men and women do equal housework now?

Answer 12

shows that averaged over the years
men are doing 110 fewer minutes of housework than women per day,

Question 13

How does the age of men determine their household chores?

Answer 13

young men have increased their
contribution to household labor while older men’s time allocation has not noticeably altered

younger men are contributing significantly more time to domestic chores than are
older men, whereas for women there is no difference by age group

Question 14

What was a big factor on men doing more domestic work?

Answer 14

those working shorter hours in a paid job.

Question 15

Which groups of men are stepping up with domestic work?

Answer 15

1. , less educated men have stepped up their contributions to domestic work more
2. Younger men
3. Single men