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Gender Gaps in Care Work: Evidences from Argentina, Chile, Spain and Uruguay

DOI:10.1007/s11205-020-02556-9
Authors:
Marius Dominguez at University of Barcelona
Marius Dominguez
Karina Batthyany at Universidad de la República de Uruguay, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales
Karina Batthyany
  • Universidad de la República de Uruguay, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales
Sol Scavino Solari at Universidad de la República de Uruguay
Sol Scavino Solari
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Abstract

This paper is a comparative analysis of the gender gaps in the non-paid domestic and care work (NPDCW) undertaken in homes in Argentina, Chile, Spain and Uruguay. The explanatory factors of this gap in two-income households and their magnitude and impact on the distribution of NPDCW are analyzed using data from national time use surveys. The weakness of micro-sociological approaches and the variables related to relative resources and time availability is demonstrated using the estimation of a regression model, while the importance of approximations of gender roles and analyses that incorporate macro-sociological factors is shown. Furthermore, the findings show that NPDCW is done by women in 70% of cases with women’s incomes and time availability among the individual variables that drive change within the couple. The results show that the equalizing effects of time availability and gender ideology are stronger for women in more egalitarian countries; women in less egalitarian countries benefit less from their individual-level assets. Additional comparative analysis shows that other macro-level factors (economic development, female labor-force participation, gender norms and welfare systems) may also influence the division of this work. The results suggest that changes in individual-level factors alone may not be enough to achieve an equal division of labor in the household without a parallel reduction in macro-level gender inequality.
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Vol.:(0123456789)
Social Indicators Research (2021) 154:969–998
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-020-02556-9
1 3
ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Gender Gaps inCare Work: Evidences fromArgentina, Chile,
Spain andUruguay
MàriusDomínguez‑Amorós1 · KarinaBatthyány2· SolScavino2
Accepted: 13 November 2020 / Published online: 3 January 2021
© Springer Nature B.V. 2021
Abstract
This paper is a comparative analysis of the gender gaps in the non-paid domestic and
care work (NPDCW) undertaken in homes in Argentina, Chile, Spain and Uruguay. The
explanatory factors of this gap in two-income households and their magnitude and impact
on the distribution of NPDCW are analyzed using data from national time use surveys. The
weakness of micro-sociological approaches and the variables related to relative resources
and time availability is demonstrated using the estimation of a regression model, while the
importance of approximations of gender roles and analyses that incorporate macro-socio-
logical factors is shown. Furthermore, the findings show that NPDCW is done by women
in 70% of cases with women’s incomes and time availability among the individual vari-
ables that drive change within the couple. The results show that the equalizing effects of
time availability and gender ideology are stronger for women in more egalitarian countries;
women in less egalitarian countries benefit less from their individual-level assets. Addi-
tional comparative analysis shows that other macro-level factors (economic development,
female labor-force participation, gender norms and welfare systems) may also influence
the division of this work. The results suggest that changes in individual-level factors alone
may not be enough to achieve an equal division of labor in the household without a parallel
reduction in macro-level gender inequality.
Keywords Care work· Gender· Cross-national· Time use· Housework· Division of labor
This article was compiled in the context of the INCASI Network, a European project that has received
funding from the European Union H2020 research program, Marie Skłodowska-Curie GA No. 691004,
coordinated by Dr. Pedro López-Roldán. The article reflects the opinion of the authors and the Agency
is not responsible for the use that may be made of the information it contains.
* Màrius Domínguez-Amorós
mariusdominguez@ub.edu
Karina Batthyány
karina.batthyany@cienciassociales.edu.uy
Sol Scavino
sol.scavino@cienciassociales.edu.uy
1 Department ofSociology, Universidad de Barcelona, Avda. Diagonal, 696,08034Barcelona,
Spain
2 Departamento de Sociología de la Facultad de Ciencias Sociales (UDELAR), Montevideo,
Uruguay
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
... Most of the empirical work on the factors explaining the gender gap in unpaid work within households draws on research from developed countries. However, some recent work has emerged from other contexts such as China, Kyrgyzstan and Latin American countries (Walker, 2013;Luke et al., 2014;Dong & An, 2015;Amarante & Rossel, 2018;Kolpashnikova & Kan, 2020;Baldé, 2020;Torabi, 2020;de Bruin & Liu, 2020;Domínguez-Amorós et al., 2021). A systematic analysis of the gender gap in unpaid household and care work has not been undertaken in the Indian context. ...
... Finally, some of the institutional factors at national level that may impact the distribution of unpaid work within households include female labour force participation, gender norms, welfare regimes and the level of economic development (Fuwa, 2004;Hook, 2006;Anxo et al., 2011;Campaña et al., 2017;Amarante & Rossel, 2018;Domínguez-Amorós et al., 2021). In a comparative study of Mexico, Peru, and Ecuador, (Campaña et al., 2017) show that the gendered allocation of total work has greater levels of parity in countries with more egalitarian gender norms. ...
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