Self-employment, work-family time and the gender division of labour

Lyn Craig, Abigail Powell and Natasha Cortis
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Lyn Craig: University of New South Wales, Australia
Abigail Powell: University of New South Wales, Australia
Natasha Cortis: University of New South Wales, Australia

Work, Employment & Society, 2012, vol. 26, issue 5, 716-734

Abstract: Does being self-employed, as opposed to being an employee, make a difference to how parents with young children can balance work and family demands? Does self-employment facilitate more equal gender divisions of labour? This article uses the Australian Time Use Survey to identify associations between self-employment and mothers’ and fathers’ time in paid work, domestic labour and childcare and when during the day they perform these activities. The time self-employed mothers devote to each activity differs substantially from that of employee mothers, while fathers’ time is relatively constant across employment types. Working from home is highly correlated with self-employment for mothers, implying the opportunity to be home-based is a pull factor in mothers becoming self-employed. Results suggest mothers use self-employment to combine earning and childcare whereas fathers prioritize paid work regardless of employment type. Self-employment is not associated with gender redistribution of paid and unpaid work, although it facilitates some rescheduling.

Keywords: childcare; gender division of labour; self-employment; time use; work and family (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:woemps:v:26:y:2012:i:5:p:716-734

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