(Press-News.org) The proportion of the workforce represented by women rose from 20.7% to 41.1% between 1978 and 2002. However, this trend has not resulted in a similar increase in the proportion of men who participate in household tasks. Some 55% of women who are part of a dual earning couple still perform all household tasks. Furthermore, 33% of men do not do anything at home.
"Younger women still carry out a larger amount of unpaid work than men, although in less proportion than older women. The same occurs with education. The lower the level of education, the more likely women are to have more household chores", co-author of the working paper and researcher at the Public University of Navarra (Spain) Salomé Goñi explained to SINC.
In order to obtain the data that the journal Sex Roles publishes this month, the researchers selected 2,877 Spanish male and female workers from the total sample of the Survey of Quality of Life at Work in Spain between 2001 and 2004 who stated they were members of a dual earning couple.
The experts conducted a variable analysis of the division of unpaid work following three models: the role-strain approach, the traditional gender division approach and the resource-bargaining approach. According to the study, all three theoretical models help to explain the unequal division of household labour and can therefore be regarded as complementary.
Only 12 % Share Household Tasks
According to the study, only 12% of the women surveyed share their household responsibilities equally with their partner. The European average, albeit low, stands at 25%.
Without distinguishing by gender, 18.91% of the people surveyed state that they "do nothing" at home, compared to 57% who say they "share the housework" and 23% who "do everything".
If we divide the sample by gender, these figures change drastically. Only 0.64% of women state that they do not do any housework, while 55% take on the entire workload of the household, compared to 1.4% of men. Furthermore, 33% of men in relationships in which both members work say they do not do "any housework".
"If we take the sample as a whole, one might think the situation is balanced, but when we distinguish between men and women, the difference is clearly visible", the researcher added.
Economic Dependence Only Affects Women
The study also analyses couples' level of employment and economic dependence in relation to unpaid work. "What we found was that the variables that explain the participation of women in household tasks are different to those that explain the participation of men", Goñi said.
In this sense, economic dependence is important in the case of women, whereas this variable does not affect the involvement of men in unpaid work.
As regards the variables relating to paid work, having a job results in women no longer "doing everything" but "sharing chores". However, if men work more outside their home, women are more likely to do everything.
Similarly, the less women contribute in terms of wages, the more likely they are to take on all the unpaid work. "The opposite occurs in the case of men, who would change from doing nothing to sharing", Goñi concluded.
INFORMATION:
References:
Salomé Goñi Legaz, Andrea Ollo López, Alberto Bayo-Moriones; "The Division of Household Labor in Spanish Dual Earner Couples: Testing Three Theories". Sex Roles 63 (7-8): 515-529, octubre de 2010.
Women still work double shifts
2010-10-27
[Attachments] See images for this press release:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Emissions from consumption outstrip efficiency savings
2010-10-27
Emissions from consumption growth have exceeded carbon savings from efficiency improvements in the global supply chain of products consumed in the UK, according to new research by Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) at the University of York and the University of Durham.
Carbon dioxide emissions from UK consumption grew by 217 Million tonnes(Mt) of carbon dioxide from increased spending between 1992 and 2004 while cuts from more efficient production only led to reductions of 148 Mt leaving a net growth of 69 Mt of carbon dioxide .
In previous research, Stockholm ...
Water could hold answer to graphene nanoelectronics
2010-10-27
Troy, N.Y. – Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute developed a new method for using water to tune the band gap of the nanomaterial graphene, opening the door to new graphene-based transistors and nanoelectronics.
By exposing a graphene film to humidity, Rensselaer Professor Nikhil Koratkar and his research team were able to create a band gap in graphene – a critical prerequisite to creating graphene transistors. At the heart of modern electronics, transistors are devices that can be switched "on" or "off" to alter an electrical signal. Computer microprocessors ...
Follow-ups prove powerful tool for treating depression in primary care
2010-10-27
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — In the 15 minutes a primary care doctor typically has with a patient, she's expected to diagnose the current ailment, help manage ongoing health issues and provide preventive care. In this setting, confronting all but the most obvious and immediate mental health needs of patients is an ongoing challenge.
A new study by researchers at the University of Michigan Health System, however, points to an encouraging strategy for improving and sustaining mental health results in chronically depressed patients by providing small amounts of flexible, targeted ...
Scientists meet in Ethiopia to broaden market opportunities for Africa's livestock farmers
2010-10-27
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (27 October, 2010)—As agricultural leaders across the globe look for ways to increase investments in agriculture to boost world food production, experts in African livestock farming are meeting in Addis Ababa this week to deliberate on ways to get commercialized farm production, access to markets, innovations, gender issues and pro-poor policies right for Africa's millions of small-scale livestock farmers and herders.
More than 70 percent of Africa's rural poor are livestock farmers. Each farm animal raised is a rare source of high-quality food, particularly ...
In a challenging infant heart defect, two-thirds may have high chance of survival
2010-10-27
When prenatal diagnosis detects the severe heart defect hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) in a fetus, a comprehensive prenatal evaluation is important to provide parents an accurate prognosis. In HLHS, one of the heart's pumping chambers is severely underdeveloped. However, say researchers, in two-thirds of cases, reconstructive surgery affords the infant an excellent chance of early survival.
Researchers from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia report on five years of experience at that hospital, in a review of 240 fetuses diagnosed with HLHS from 2004 to 2009. ...
Study identifies key molecules in multiple myeloma
2010-10-27
COLUMBUS, Ohio – New research links three molecules to a critical tumor suppressor gene that is often turned off in multiple myeloma, a presently incurable cancer of the blood.
The findings might offer a new strategy for treating this disease and other blood cancers, according to researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center-Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James) who led the study.
The silenced molecules are called miR-192, miR-194 and miR-215. All of them are microRNAs, a large class of molecules ...
New entitlement program not a replacement for long-term care insurance
2010-10-27
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – An obscure provision in the health care reform bill has the potential to seriously alter the long-term care landscape for older Americans, but it may not be as beneficial to retirees as it will be for near-retirees and successive generations of workers, new research by a University of Illinois elder law expert warns.
Richard L. Kaplan, an expert on federal taxes and retirement issues, says the new federal entitlement program, known as Community Living Assistance Services and Supports, or CLASS, shouldn't be viewed as a replacement for long-term care ...
Targeted radiation therapy minimizes GI side effects for prostate cancer patients, Penn study shows
2010-10-27
SAN DIEGO -- Prostate cancer patients who receive intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) are less apt to suffer serious gastrointestinal complications following their treatment than those who receive three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (CRT), according to new research from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. The study, which will be presented Nov. 1 at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) in San Diego, found that men who were treated with IMRT had fewer serious bowel complications, including painful rectal ...
School attendance, refusal skills combat smoking risk in youth
2010-10-27
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Asian-American youth are one of the fastest growing populations in the United States. Although Asian Americans begin smoking later in life, they are more likely to smoke regularly and at a higher rate than other ethnic or racial groups, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Now, a University of Missouri researcher is examining the unique differences in adolescent tobacco use among Asians and other groups to provide specific recommendations for prevention and treatment.
"Given the large number of addicted teenagers, tobacco control ...
Tornado warnings are too often ignored
2010-10-27
EAST LANSING, Mich. — With big storms ripping across the Midwest, Bob Drost is hoping people are paying attention to the severe weather and tornado warnings.
Unfortunately, Drost, a doctoral student at Michigan State University, knows that many times those warnings are ignored, according to his research. "Only 63 percent understood that a warning is the most urgent National Weather Service statement during severe weather," he said.
Next week, Drost will present his research findings at the Geological Society of America's annual conference to fellow earth scientists ...