Logo image
Do Workplace Flexibility Policies Influence Time Spent in Domestic Labor?
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Do Workplace Flexibility Policies Influence Time Spent in Domestic Labor?

Mary C Noonan, Sarah Beth Estes and Jennifer L Glass
Journal of family issues, Vol.28(2), pp.263-288
02/2007
DOI: 10.1177/0192513X06292703
url
https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X06292703View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Has related material

Abstract

Using data from a U.S. midwestern sample of mothers and fathers, the authors examine whether using workplace flexibility policies alters time spent in housework and child care. They hypothesize that an individual’s policy use will lead to more time in domestic labor and that his or her spouse’s policy use will lead to less time in domestic labor. Several results support their hypotheses. Mothers who work part-time spend more time in housework and their husbands spend less time in housework. Also, mothers who work at home spend more time in child care. One policy has the opposite of the predicted effect: Wives with flexible work schedules do less housework, and their husbands do more. Overall, mothers’ policy use has counterbalancing effects on their own and their spouses’ domestic labor time, implying that policy use has little net impact on total domestic labor time within dual-earner families.
Child Care work-family policies gender housework

Details

Metrics

Logo image