Gender, Employment, and Housework in Japan, South Korea, and the United States
Noriko O. TSUYA, Larry L. BUMPASS, and Minja Kim CHOE

This study examines employment and housework in Japan, South Korea, and the United States, using data from three sets of recent national surveys on the family. For all three countries, the study found as follows. First, family factors such as the presence and age of children and co-residence with or nearness to parents strongly affect wivesf employment status and hours but have little effect on husbandsf employment patterns. Second, although wives shoulder a large part of housework, total workload of both spouses becomes almost equal when housework and employment hours are considered jointly. However, wivesf total workload increases dramatically as their own employment hours increases, indicating the gdouble burdenh of unpaid housework for employed wives. Third, the gender division of labor at home is influenced by time availability of each spouse for housework as well as family situations such as presence of nonadult children and co-residence with parents. Moreover, in the United States, the gender division of household labor is also influenced by such socio-demographic factors as education of both spouses and husbandsf age.

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