Housework
Future Of Housework
Women do most of the unpaid labor around the world, although their housework hours have declined, and their husbands' proportionate contributions have increased. Women still bear a double burden of work inside and outside the home. To ease this burden, families with adequate incomes are increasingly purchasing goods and services. Families with wives employed full-time are more likely to eat at restaurants, and employed wives are more likely than nonemployed wives to purchase cleaning services (Oropesa 1993). Women's labor force participation may be fueling an expanded global service economy, but workers in service positions are relatively disadvantaged themselves and are typically forced to accept minimum wage jobs and to forego providing direct daily care to their own children and families. Patterns of housework allocation are thus linked to patterns of gender, class, and race stratification in the larger society (Coltrane and Collins 2001). Ultimately, relieving the negative consequences of unbalanced divisions of housework for women will require men to assume equal responsibility in the home, as women assume equal responsibility for earning income.
See also: CAREGIVING: INFORMAL; CHILDCARE; COMPUTERS AND FAMILY; DIVISION OF LABOR; DUAL-EARNER FAMILIES; EQUITY; FAMILY ROLES; FOOD; HOME; HOME ECONOMICS; HOUSING; INDUSTRIALIZATION; RETIREMENT; TIME USE; WORK AND FAMILY
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MICHELE ADAMS
SCOTT COLTRANE
Additional topics
Marriage and Family EncyclopediaRelationshipsHousework - History Of Housework, What Is Housework?, Housework Performance, Predictors Of Men's Sharing