Time with Children: Do Fathers and Mothers Replace Each Other When One Parent is Unemployed?

Ariane Pailhé () and Anne Solaz ()
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Ariane Pailhé: INED

European Journal of Population, 2008, vol. 24, issue 2, No 4, 236 pages

Abstract: Abstract This article aims to study the substitution of parental time between the mother and the father. Taking the “experience” of unemployment as a release from the time constraint, we analyse time transfers between partners in such a situation. A bivariate Tobit model is applied on the French time-use data. It shows that parents quite rarely substitute the time devoted to children between each other, except for child transportation and childcare. Parents do not want to relinquish their parental activities, a fact which reflects their desire to contribute to the children’s education, and the contribution of parental time to the balance of power between spouses. Exchanges remain asymmetric: non-employed fathers release less their partner from parental tasks than unemployed mothers do, which reflects the weight of gender social norms.

Keywords: Parental time; Childcare; Unemployment; Family time use; Household division of labour; Social norms; temps parental; soins aux enfants; chômage; allocation du temps; division du travail; normes sociales (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10680-007-9143-5

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