Using data in the United States, UK and Germany, we show that women whose working hours exceed those of their male partners report lower life satisfaction on average. By contrast, men do not report lower life satisfaction from working more hours than their female partners. An analysis of possible mechanisms shows that in couples where the woman works more hours than the man, women do not spend significantly less time doing household chores. Women with egalitarian ideologies are likely to perceive this unequal division of labour as unfair, ultimately reducing their life satisfaction.
Gender norms, fairness and relative working hours within households
Résumé
en
Using data in the United States, UK and Germany, we show that women whose working hours exceed those of their male partners report lower life satisfaction on average. By contrast, men do not report lower life satisfaction from working more hours than their female partners. An analysis of possible mechanisms shows that in couples where the woman works more hours than the man, women do not spend significantly less time doing household chores. Women with egalitarian ideologies are likely to perceive this unequal division of labour as unfair, ultimately reducing their life satisfaction.
Auteur(s)
Sarah N Flèche1, 2
, Anthony Lepinteur3
, Nattavudh Powdthavee4, 5
École des hautes études en sciences sociales UMR7316 ( 99539 )
;
Aix Marseille Université UMR7316 ( 198056 )
;
École Centrale de Marseille UMR7316 ( 300415 )
;
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique UMR7316 ( 441569 )
2
CEP - LSE -
Centre for Economic Performance
( 151088 )
- Centre for Economic Performance
London School of Economics and Political Science
Houghton Street
London
WC2A 2AE
UK
- Royaume-Uni
London School of Economics and Political Science ( 328453 )
3
University of Luxembourg [Luxembourg]
( 366875 )
- Campus Kirchberg
6, rue Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi
L-1359 Luxembourg
Campus de Limpertsberg
162a, avenue de la Faïencerie
L-1511 Luxembourg
Campus de Belval
2, avenue de l'Université
L-4365 Esch-sur-Alzette
- Luxembourg
4
WBS -
Warwick Business School
( 70378 )
- Warwick Business School The University of Warwick Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
- Royaume-Uni
University of Warwick [Coventry] ( 302824 )
5
IZA -
Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit - Institute of Labor Economics
( 237214 )
- Schaumburg-Lippe-Str. 5-9 D-53113 Bonn Germany
- Allemagne
Langue du document
Anglais
Nom de la revue
Labour Economics
(ISSN : 0927-5371)
Publié par Elsevier
Revue non référencée dans Sherpa-Romeo
Sarah N Flèche, Anthony Lepinteur, Nattavudh Powdthavee. Gender norms, fairness and relative working hours within households. Labour Economics, 2020, 65, pp.101866. ⟨10.1016/j.labeco.2020.101866⟩. ⟨hal-03139138⟩