Division of household labor by parenthood status in France and Germany

Valerie Martin, University of Bamberg
Cordula D. Zabel, Institute for Employment Research (IAB)

In this study, we investigate couples’ division of household labor and childcare tasks in France, eastern Germany, and western Germany. We examine whether differences between France and the two German regions in the division of housework already exist among couples who are as of yet childless, or if such differences emerge only upon entry into parenthood, and to what extent they depend on the age of the youngest child. We study to what extent differing divisions of housework can be explained by differences in maternal employment, relative income, gender values, and marital status, and whether there is convergence in housework allocation as children grow older and differences in maternal employment rates grow smaller. We employ data from the French and the German Generations and Gender Survey (GGS) and carry out our analyses using ordered logistic regression models. We find evidence that important differences in the division of household labor between France, eastern and western Germany emerge only upon entry into parenthood, and that the division of housework develops in different directions with the age of the youngest child in each of the countries/ regions.