Nonmarket Time and Inequality: Trends and Gender Differences in Men's and Women's Housework, Child Care, and Shopping

Liana C. Sayer, University of Pennsylvania

This paper examines trends and gender differences in nonmarket time. The analysis documents a trend toward greater similarity in women's and men's nonmarket time that is due to redistribution. Men are spending substantially more time in core nonmarket tasks (cooking, cleaning, and daily child care) and women substantially less time cooking and cleaning. Further, multivariate analyses find no gender differences in the effect of marriage or employment on men's and women's housework time, or in the effects of number of children or preschoolers on parents' child care or housework time. The results indicate that women and men are selectively investing nonmarket time in tasks that construct family life, such as nurturing children, while doing more routine tasks, such as housecleaning, less frequently. This suggests that the symbolic meaning of nonmarket work may be shifting from representing gender subordination to representing family caring.