Household labor

Family care experiences and characteristics are shaped by cultural, historic, economic, and political forces.  In the United States, feminist research has focused on persistent gender inequalities at home and at work, arguing that social change in the “gender revolution” is “uneven and stalled” and “unfinished.” Though studies show younger generations, like Gen-Xers and Millennials, embrace more egalitarian gender ideals for employment and family labor, household research continues to document women’s disproportionate burden and men’s unequal sharing. Everyday, women provide two hours more house and care work than men.  Even when both parents are employed full-time, mothers shoulder a greater responsibility for care and perform more household tasks.

Key resources:

Hochschild, A. 1989. The second shift: Working parents and the revolution at home. NY:  Viking Penguin.

Risman, B. 2018. Where the millennials will take us: A new generation wrestles with the gender structure. NY: Oxford University Press.