Education and the division of household labor in dual-earner families

Authors

• Miettinen Anneli

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23979/fypr.44958

Keywords:

housework, education, dual income family

Abstract

This article is the first report of a study on policies and the division of paid and unpaid
work in families in Finland. The article examines the division ofhousehold labor and its
determinants in Finnish dual-eamer families. The main objective is to examine whether
education has any impact on the division ofunpaid work and men's participation in it
controlling fr other variables. It was found, that among women, rising educational
levels, non-traditional attitudes and younger age cohort had a negative impact on time
spent on housework, while among men only reduced time in employment and nontraditional
attitudes increased the contribution at home. While both men and women
with higher education and non-traditional attitudes were more likely to perceive their
relative division as more equal, an analysis of the absolute number of hours spent on
housework seems to support the notion that more equal distribution of tasks at home is
more or less a result of younger and educated women doing less housework. The data
comes from a survey conducted in 1998, in which 2,500 Finnish men and women were
questioned about time use, employment, attitudes about gender roles, work and family,
andreconciliation ofwork and family. The Finnish study is part ofa Europeanresearch
project which studies the division oflabor in families in different cultural, political and
societal settings.