Man-Yee Kan, University of Oxford Heather Laurie, University of Essex Who is doing the housework in multicultural Britain? Eastern ARC Changing Gender Roles Workshop University of Kent, March 31 – April 1 st, 2016

 Extensive literature on the domestic division of labour (DDL) between couple members  Research on DDL ethnicity ‘blind’  Theoretical focus on gender ignores potential intersections between gender and ethnicity  Lack of data for quantitative analysis  New data for the UK  Understanding Society, the UK Household Longitudinal Study Motivation

 First nationally representative analysis of DDL by ethnic group for the UK  Describe gendered patterns of DDL by ethnic group  time spent on domestic tasks by men and women  share of time spent by couple members  Examine key determinants of DDL and variations by ethnic group (i) Education (ii) Employment (iii) First and second generation immigrants (iv) Gender role attitudes Aim

1. The domestic division of labour varies by ethnic group and by gender, and is associated with individuals’ gender attitudes. 2. High educational attainment and employment status are associated with a more equal domestic division of labour but the association differs among ethnic groups. 3. Those who were born in the UK or arrived in the UK before age 12 will have more egalitarian domestic labour arrangements than first generation immigrants. Hypotheses

The data  Understanding Society is a household panel survey  Incorporates former British Household Panel Survey  Large sample size (circa 40,000 households at wave 1)  Annual interviews all aged 10+  Four waves of data available (Jan 2009 – Dec 2013)  Boost sample for five key groups  Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Black Caribbean, Black African  To achieve 1,000 interviews in each group  Other ethnic groups included but not oversampled  Additional New Immigrant and Ethnic Minority boost sample to be added at wave 8 (2016) (3,000 households/ 5,500 individuals)

 Understanding Society general population sample and ethnic minority boost sample  Pooled sample respondents interviewed at either wave 2 and/or wave 4  Married and cohabiting couple members aged <65  Cases missing on key variables excluded  Unweighted sample N = 28,395 observations  Longitudinal respondent weights  Robust standard errors account for clustering Analytic sample

 Ethnic group self-reported using 2011 UK Census question (recoded to 12 groups)  Usual weekly hours spent on housework tasks  including shopping, cooking, washing and ironing, and cleaning  Both couple members interviewed  Match couple members to create a total share of housework measure at the couple level Ethnic group and domestic division of labour measures

 Collected in self-completion component  Series of statements: five point scale response from ‘Strongly disagree’ to ‘Strongly agree’  A pre-school child is likely to suffer if his or her mother works  All in all, family life suffers when the woman has a full-time job  Both the husband and wife should contribute to the household income  A husband’s job is to earn money; a wife’s job is to look after the home and family Gender attitudes measures

 Own and spouse’s education  Own and spouse’s employment  Born in UK or arrived before 12 years old  34% of non-White British born in UK or arrived before 12 yrs  Gender role attitudes scale  Recoded to generate scale from -8 to +8  Positive score = more traditional attitudes  Control variables: age, spouse same ethnic group, marital status, household income, number dependent children Variables for OLS regressions

Weighted N men = 11,866/ women=13,025

Weighted N men = 10,769/ women=11,923

Men Women White British (ref)-- White Irish * White Other Indian.942*3.91*** Pakistani *** Bangladeshi * Chinese Other Asian1.82*-.655 Black Caribbean Black African ** Mixed background Other ethnic group Has degree *** Spouse has degree.534**-.875*** In paid employment-3.31***-3.62*** Spouse in employment.969***2.07*** Born in UK/pre 12 years old *** Gender attitudes score-.178***.278*** CONTROLSYES Constant R squared N observations10,76911,923 Predicting weekly hours of housework (OLS regression) Data are weighted. *P <.05, **P <.01, ***P <.001.

Model 1Model 2 White British (ref) -- White Irish White Other Indian.046***.046** Pakistani.093***.091*** Bangladeshi.038*.017 Chinese Other Asian Black Caribbean Black African Mixed background Other ethnic group.037 Has degree -.058***-.052*** Spouse has degree In paid employment -.075***-.071*** Spouse in employment.124***.123*** Born in UK/pre 12 years Gender attitudes score n/a.006*** CONTROLS YES Constant R squared N observations 13,02511,923 Predicting women’s housework share (OLS regression) Data are weighted. *P <.05, **P <.01, ***P <.001. Differences in sample sizes due to non-response to self-completion questionnaire where the gender attitudes questions were asked.

 Significant differences in DDL across ethnic groups  In all groups, women spend significantly more hours on housework than men but is heterogeneity across groups  Housework share varies across groups with women’s share ranging from 65% to 83%  Whether born in UK or arrived before age 12 significant in reducing housework hours for women only Conclusions

 Education and employment significantly associated with DDL but varies across ethnic groups  More egalitarian arrangements associated with having a degree for women as is having a spouse with a degree for both men and women  Being in paid employment reduces housework hours on average for men and women  Share of housework only reduced on average if the woman has a degree or is employed  White British not the most egalitarian gender attitudes  Black Caribbean men the least traditional gender attitudes of all groups Conclusions (2)

 Immigrants a selected population  Takes time for norms of behaviour to change  Indications of change for 2 nd generation women  May be differing definitions of what constitutes domestic labour across ethnic groups  Structural factors may reinforce norms of behaviour  Discrimination or difficulties integrating into the UK labour market for some groups such as Pakistani and Bangladeshi women  Need to rethink theoretical approaches to take intersection between ethnicity and gender into account How to interpret differences?

nk-ynk-y Data are available through the UK Data Service For more information about Understanding Society see Thank-you!