Help whom and help what? Intergenerational co-residence and the gender differences in time use among dual-earner households in Beijing, China

Na Ta, Zhilin Liu and Yanwei Chai
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Na Ta: Key Laboratory of Geographic Information Science (Ministry of Education), School of Geographic Sciences, East China Normal University, China
Zhilin Liu: School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University, China
Yanwei Chai: Department of Urban and Economic Geography, Peking University, China

Urban Studies, 2019, vol. 56, issue 10, 2058-2074

Abstract: An extensive literature has documented the conflict between employment and household responsibilities and its impacts on the gendered patterns of daily activities in dual-earner households. However, most studies have focused exclusively on the division of household labour in nuclear households, with insufficient attention paid to the impact of alternative household strategies such as co-residence with extended family members. This article investigates the extent to which the presence of elderly parents shifts gendered activity patterns and even reduces the gender inequality in time use in urban China. By drawing on an activity diary survey conducted in Beijing in 2012, we compare and contrast the gendered patterns in time use between nuclear family households and extended family households. We find that co-residence mitigates the tension between employment and household responsibilities for women and leads to greater gender equality in the division of household labour and a reduced gender gap in the time spent on employment. However, co-residence only enables women to shift their time allocation from household responsibilities to employment rather than to pursue discretionary activities, and therefore its positive role is limited. We further discuss the policy implications given the limitations of intergenerational co-residence as an individual-based solution for childcare and other social services in transitional urban China.

Keywords: activity pattern; gender; inequality; policy; time use; 活动模å¼; 性别; ä¸ å¹³ç­‰; 政策; 时间使用 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:56:y:2019:i:10:p:2058-2074

DOI: 10.1177/0042098018787153

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