Cite as:
de Meester E, Zorlu A, Mulder C H, 2011, "The residential context and the division of household and childcare tasks" Environment and Planning A 43(3) 666 – 682
Download citation data in RIS format

The residential context and the division of household and childcare tasks

Edith de Meester, Aslan Zorlu, Clara H Mulder

Received 3 March 2010; in revised form 2 November 2010

Abstract. This paper reports a study of the division of household and childcare tasks between partners from a time – space perspective. Data from the 2005 Netherlands Kinship Panel Study and the 2004 ABF Real Estate Monitor are used. The impact of the residential context on the division of household and childcare tasks is studied, taking into account the endogeneity of time spent in paid work for the division of unpaid tasks. The findings suggest that the residential context is an important factor explaining the intrahousehold allocation of unpaid tasks. We found an indirect effect of living in a large city and of job access on the division of household tasks, running via the number of hours worked by the female partner: women living in large cities work more hours, and this leads to a greater likelihood of a nontraditional division of household tasks. There is also a direct effect of living in a large city on the likelihood of a nontraditional division of household tasks, but not on the likelihood of a nontraditional division of childcare tasks.

Restricted material:

 Full-text PDF size: 203 Kb

 References  42 references, 22 with DOI links ()

Your computer (IP address: 192.99.32.115) has not been recognised as being on a network authorised to view the full text or references of this article. If you are a member of a university library that has a subscription to the journal, please contact your serials librarian (subscriptions information).