Does Children’s Age Impact the Division of Housework? A comparison of France, eastern and western Germany

Abstract:

In this study, we investigate couples' division of household tasks by the age of the youngest child, comparing France, eastern Germany, and western Germany. For our analyses, we draw on Generations and Gender Survey (GGS) data. As expected, our findings are that the division of housework is less egalitarian for couples with preschool age children than for childless couples, and these differences are greatest in western Germany. However, we had also expected the division of housework to be more egalitarian again for couples with older children, among whom maternal employment rates are higher than among those with younger children. Our findings confirmed this expectation for western Germany. Surprisingly though, we found that in both eastern Germany and France, the division of housework was actually continuously less egalitarian the older couples' children. An explanation may be that the traditionalizing impact of parenthood unfolds slowly with parenthood duration as couples increasingly yield to societal expectations regarding parental roles. In western Germany, where women reduce their employment most significantly when becoming mothers, employment status effects appear to dominate any other trends associated with the age of the youngest child.