Exploring the Second Shift

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Goal

The goal of this module is to explore the influence of gender roles and attitudes about work and family on the household division of labor and childcare responsibilities. Crosstabulation and comparison of means will be used.

Concept

Gender roles are socially and culturally constructed norms of gender-appropriate behavior. Social scientists are interested in gender roles because they are often closely linked to gender stratification, or the unequal distribution of power and resources between men and women. Research on gender roles often focuses on gender dynamics in the family, and particularly on the household division of labor.

In the United States, the traditional conception of the household division of labor defines women as primarily responsible for care of children and the household, while men assume the role of financial provider for the family. However, the dramatic increase in women's labor force participation in the past fifty years has led to changing attitudes about work and family, and blurring of traditional gender roles.

The second shift is a term coined and popularized by sociologist Arlie Hochschild. It refers to the household and childcare duties that follow the day's work for pay outside the home. While both men and women experience the second shift, women tend to shoulder most of this responsibility.

Examples of possible research questions about gender inequality in the household division of labor:

  • Examples of possible research questions about gender inequality in the household division of labor:
  • Is shared work more common in dual-wage families?
  • Do couples who share more equally in household and childcare responsibilities report higher levels of satisfaction with their relationship?
  • How do women's education levels and occupations relate to the household division of labor?
  • Do men who work fewer hours than their wives contribute more to the housework and childcare?
  • What are the consequences of the second shift on women's mental and physical well-being?
  • How does the second shift affect women's careers and career choices?

Data for this analysis come from the 500 Family Study. The 500 Family Study is based on a non-random sample of over 500 middle class, dual-wage families from 8 cities across the US. The survey explores how families deal with the competing demands and responsibilities of work and family, and how this affects parents' and their children's lives and well-being. The Parent Data fileused for this exercise contains basic demographic information about the respondents, as well as information regarding the extent to which parents experienced work-family conflicts; parental attitudes toward traditional arrangements; how household tasks were divided among family members; and the frequency with which parents engaged in various activities with their children and were involved in their children's lives.

This exercise will use the following variables:

  • Person type (PERID_1)
  • Who should be the financial provider (PRVIDE_1)
  • Husbands should share household duties (SPCHOR_1)
  • Time spent shopping for house (RSHPHS_1)
  • Time spent taking kids to activities (RCHACT_1)
  • Time spent cooking (RCOOKG_1)
  • Time spent washing dishes (RDISHS_1)
  • Time spent cleaning (RCLEAN_1)
  • Time spent on laundry (RLAUND_1)
  • Time spent on yard work (RYARDM_1)
  • Time spent helping with kids' homework (RHPHWK_1)
  • Spouse's time spent shopping for house (SSHPHS_1)
  • Spouse's time spent taking kids to activities (SCHACT_1)
  • Spouse's time spent cooking (SCOOKG_1)
  • Spouse's time spent washing dishes (SDISHS_1)
  • Spouse's time spent cleaning (SCLEAN_1)
  • Spouse's time spent on laundry (SLAUND_1)
  • Spouse's time spent on yard work (SYARDM_1)
  • Spouse's time spent helping with kids' homework (SHPHWK_1)
  • Duration of time off for childcare (TMEOFF_1)
  • Chose work close to kids (WKCHLD_1)
  • Happy with role responsibilities (RESPAR_1)
  • Satisfied with relationship (OVERAL_1)

For this exercise you will explore couples' attitudes about work and family, how they handle household and childcare responsibilities, and the impact that these arrangements have on their relationship satisfaction. You will use crosstabulation and comparison of means.

Because the focus of this module is parents' attitudes and experiences, we recoded the variable "PERID_1" ("person type") to include only the categories "mom" and "dad." The new variable is called PARENT.

Attitudes about Work and Family

The variable PRVIDE_1 describes who respondents feel should provide the majority of the income in the family. We recoded it to exclude missing data and the category "other" and called the new variable PRVIDE.

Run a comparison of means of PRVIDE by PARENT. Remember that a code of 3 means the respondent feels that income should be provided equally. A code of less than 3 means the respondent feels his/her spouse should provide the majority of income, and a score of more than 3 means the respondent feels they should provide a majority of the family income.

What do the results say about mothers' and fathers' expectations for providing the family income?

The variable SPCHOR_1 measures attitudes about whether a husband should share equally in the household chores if his wife is working full time. To facilitate the analysis we recoded the variable to exclude missing data and collapsed the categories from five ("strongly disagree," "disagree," "neither agree nor disagree," "agree," "strongly agree") to three ("strongly disagree/disagree," "neither agree nor disagree," "agree/strongly agree"). The new variable is called SPCHOR.

Look at the crosstab of SPCHOR and PARENT. Are fathers more or less likely than mothers to agree that husbands should share equally in the housework? Do you find the results surprising?

Household Division of Labor-Self Reports

To see whether these attitudes are reflected in the actual household division of labor and work experiences, consider the variables which measure how much time, on average, each spouse spends doing a number of activities: shopping for the house (RSHPHS_1), taking kids to activities (RCHACT_1), cooking (RCOOKG_1), washing dishes (RDISHS_1), cleaning (RCLEAN_1), doing laundry (RLAUND_1), doing yard work and maintenance around the home (RYARDM_1), and helping kids with homework (RHPHWK_1). Each variable is coded into discrete categories ("1-2 hrs","3-5 hrs", etc.), which does not allow for the computation of means. To facilitate the analysis we recoded each of these variables so that respondents who answered "1-2 hrs" were coded as "1.5" hrs, those who answered "3-5 hrs" were coded as "4" hrs, and so on. We named the new variables "SHOP," "ACTIVITIES," COOK," "CLEAN," "DISHES," LAUNDRY," "HOMEFIX," and "HOMEWORK."

To further simplify the analysis, we created two indexes of time spent on activities in the home. HSWORK is the sum of SHOP, COOK, DISHES, CLEAN, and LAUNDRY, and measures how many hours per week respondents spend doing all of these chores. Similarly TIMEKIDS combines ACTIVITIES and HOMEWORK and measures how much time respondents spend driving their children to activities and helping them with homework each week. The variable HOMEFIX was left out of both indexes and will be analyzed on its own.

Run comparisons of means of HSWORK by PARENT, HOMEFIX and PARENT, and finally TIMEKIDS and PARENT. Note each analysis includes a filter to include only those respondents who work full time.

On average, how many hours do wives spend doing housework? How many hours do husbands spend on these chores? What do the results show about yard work and home maintenance? What about children-related activities? Where are gender differences the greatest? Where are they the smallest?

Household Division of Labor-Spouse Reports

Next consider men and women's assessments of their partners' time spent on household labor, measured by the variables SSHPHS_1, SCHACT_1, SCOOKG_1, SDISHS_1, SCLEAN_1, SLAUND_1, SYARDM_1, and SHPHWK_1.

Using the same coding scheme described in the previous analysis, we created new variables (SPSHOP, SPACT, SPCOOK, SPCLEAN, SPDISHES, SPLAUNDRY, SPHOMEFIX and SPHOMEWORK) and combined them into two indexes: SPHSWORK and SPTIMEKIDS.

Using a filter to limit the analysis to respondents who are employed full time, run comparisons of means of SPHSWORK by PARENT, SPHOMEFIX by PARENT, and SPTIMEKIDS by PARENT. When looking at the results, keep in mind that here the numbers in the "dad" cells refer to the number of hours men think their wives are spending on chores. Similarly, results in the "mom" cells refer to the number of hours wives believe their husbands are spending on chores.

According to husbands, how many hours on average do their wives spend doing housework, yard work, and childcare? According to wives, how many hours on average do their husbands spend on these chores? Are the results consistent with the findings from the analysis of respondents' self-reports? Where are the discrepancies the greatest?

Work and Childcare

Now think about gender differences in leaving the workforce to care for children. To simplify the analysis, we recoded the variable TMEOFF_1 into three categories: 1) never took time off; 2) took time off ; and 3) quit job . The new variable is called TIMEOFF.

Examine the crosstab of TIMEOFF and PARENT. What percentage of respondents report never having taken time off? What percentage of respondents say they had to quit their jobs to take care of their children? Which gender appears most likely to take time off?

Finally, examine whether respondents choose a job to be geographically closer to their children during the day. This is measured by the variable WKCHLD_1 which is coded into 4 categories ("not true at all," "somewhat true," "true," and "very true"). For this analysis, we collapsed the categories into two ("not true" and "true). The new variable is called WKCHLD.

Run a crosstab of WKCHLD and PARENT. What percentage of men and what percentage of women report choosing their job based on its geographical proximity to their children?

Relationship Satisfaction

Finally, consider the relationship between gender and relationship satisfaction. You will use two measures of relationship satisfaction: RESPAR_1, which asked respondents to agree or disagree with the statement, "I am happy with how we handle role responsibilities in our relationship;" and OVERAL_1, which refers to the statement, "Overall, I am satisfied with my relationship with my spouse/partner." We recoded both into new variables with three answer categories: 1) strongly disagree/disagree, 2) neither agree nor disagree, and 3) agree/strongly agree. The new variables are called RESPAR and OVERALL.

Run a crosstab of RESPAR and PARENT, using the filter RJBFT1_1(2) to limit the results to respondents who work full time. Which gender reports the highest level of satisfaction? What percentage of mothers is unhappy with the way role responsibilities are handled? Do you find the results surprising?

Finally, run a crosstab of OVERALL and PARENT (limited, once again, to respondents who work full time). Are respondents satisfied with their relationship with their spouse? Is one gender more satisfied/dissatisfied than the other? Do the results surprise you in light of the previous analyses?

Think about your answers to the application questions before you click through to the interpretation guide for help in answering them.

Attitudes about Work and Family

What are respondents' attitudes about who should be the main provider? Do both genders hold the same views? What percentage thinks that both spouses should contribute equally?

What percentage of respondents thinks that husbands should share equally in the housework? Are there significant differences between the genders?

Household Division of Labor

On average, how many hours do wives spend on housework, home maintenance and child care each week? How many hours do husbands spend on these chores? Where are gender differences the greatest? Where are they the smallest?

According to husbands, how many hours on average do their wives spend doing housework, home maintenance, and childcare? According to wives, how many hours on average do their husbands spend on these chores? Are the results consistent with the findings from the first set of analyses? Where are the discrepancies the greatest?

Work and Childcare

What percentage of respondents reports never having taken time off? What percentage of respondents says they had to quit their jobs to take care of their children? Which gender appears most likely to take time off?

What percentage of men and what percentage of women reported choosing their job based on its geographical proximity to their children?

Relationship Satisfaction

Which gender reports the highest level of satisfaction? What percentage of mothers is unhappy with the way role responsibilities are handled? Do you find the results surprising?

Are respondents satisfied with their relationship with their spouse? Is one gender more satisfied/dissatisfied than the other? Do the results surprise you in light of the previous analyses?

Interpretation

Things to think about in interpreting the results:

  • It is important to look at the amount of missing data in each relationship and think about the ways in which that might affect the generalizability of the results. In the case of this particular dataset it is also important to keep in mind that the survey was based on a non-random sample. As a result the respondents may not be representative of the entire US population.

Reading the results:

  • The numbers in each row of the comparison of means table show the mean value of the dependent variable for each group. For example, wives report that they spend an average of 2.32 hours per week doing yard work and maintenance around the home.
  • The numbers in each cell of the crosstabulation tables show the percentage of people who fall into the overlapping categories, followed by the actual number of people that represents this sample. The coloring in the tables demonstrates how the observed number in a cell compares to the expected number if there were no association between the two variables. The accompanying bar charts display the patterns visually as well.
  • The use of column percentages, as shown in these tables, allows for the comparison of answers to the "outcome" of interest across values of the grouping variable. For example, only 1% of men in the sample, compared to 39.1% of women, believe that their spouse should provide most, but not all, of the household income.
  • Weights (mathematical formulas) are often used to adjust the sample proportions, usually by race, sex, or age, to more closely match those of the general population. The analyses used in this guide did not use any weights, which may reduce the generalizability of the findings, but the resulting tables are accurate descriptions of the relationships found between these variables among these respondents.

The analyses show the following:

  • The majority of males (61.1%) believe that they should be provide most or all of the family income. A plurality of females (44.9%) believes that their spouse should provide most or all of the family income. Women are slightly more likely than men to think that both spouses should contribute equally to the household income (42.5% vs. 37.9%).
  • Both men and women agree overwhelmingly (92.3% for men, 97.4% for women) that if the wife works full time, her husband should share equally in the household chores.
  • By all accounts, women take on a significantly larger portion of the housework and spend close to 20 hours a week on these chores. Men on the other hand spend an average of 11.15 hrs/week (according to men) or 8.75 hrs/week (according to women) doing housework.
  • Childcare shows a similar gender pattern, with moms devoting between 6.11 (according to women) and 7.08 hrs/week (according to men) to these tasks, while men devote about half as many hours to childcare (3.83-4.78).
  • However when it comes to yard work and home maintenance the pattern reverses, with men reporting that they spend an average of 3.46 hrs/week (2.99 according to women), and women 2.32 hrs/week (1.94 according to men).
  • While respondents and their spouses do not always agree on how much time each spouse is devoting to chores, the mismatch is greatest in terms of the men's contribution to housework, where men estimate that they do about 2.5 hrs more work than their wives think they do (11.15 hrs vs. 8.75 hrs).
  • All in all, women devote an average of 28-29 hrs/week to all household duties combined, while men's contributions range from 15.57 to 19.39 hrs/week, depending on whether the man himself, or his spouse is reporting. The results confirm that women are disproportionately affected by the second shift, and that responsibilities continue to be divided along traditional gender lines with women taking on more of the housework and childcare duties, and men contributing more to the yard work and home maintenance.
  • There are clear gender patterns in taking time off for childcare. 51.2% of women have taken time off for pregnancy, maternal leave, or to care for a child and 36.0% have quit a job in order to take care of their children. 24.5% of men have taken time off for parental leave, but only 1.9% ever quit their job to take care of their children.
  • Women are more likely than men to choose a job based on its geographical proximity to their children. 69.6% of women, but only 50.8% of men report that they chose their current job in order to be closer to their children during the day.
  • Men overall tend to be happier than women about the way role responsibilities are handled in the relationship. 78.9% of husbands report being satisfied with the handling of role responsibilities (compared to 70% of women), and only 9.5% of them are not happy. However close to a quarter (24.5%) of women express dissatisfaction in this area.
  • These patterns hold when we look at the degree of satisfaction of husbands and wives with their overall relationship with their spouse, though here the differences are much smaller. 87.2% of men and 82.6% of women are happy with the relationship, while only 8.2% of men and 11.9% of women are not.

Summary

The goal of this exercise was to explore the influence of gender roles and attitudes about work and family on the household division of labor and childcare responsibilities. The creation of indexes and the collapsing of variable codes into fewer categories allow patterns to be more easily identified without having to be concerned with small cell counts or tables that are unwieldy. Taken together the results show that in spite of more egalitarian attitudes regarding the division of labor in the household, women still bear most of the burden of the second shift, which also influences decisions they make about work outside of the home. The competing demands and responsibilities of work and family are felt more acutely by women than by men, which may explain the two genders' differing levels of satisfaction with role responsibilities and their relationship in general.

CITATION: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. Exploring the Second Shift: A Data-Driven Learning Guide. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2009-04-16. Doi: https://doi.org/10.3886/secondshift

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