From Gender to Class Inequalities in Domestic Labor?

Christian Schmitt , Rostock University / City of Leipzig, Statistics Division

The goal of this study is twofold: First, I investigate to what extent an increase in gender equality in the division of housework in couples with a high socio-economic status is related to increased use of market-based household services. In a second step, I analyze to what extent these services are provided by women with a lower socio-economic status (SES). The synthesis of these two perspectives suggests that an increase in gender equality in high-status couples is linked to increasing class inequalities. This study presents an empirical analysis of key characteristics and changes in the use of personal and household services in Germany covering a period of more than two decades. I use longitudinal data from the Socio-Economic Panel Study from 1991- 2017, as well as data from a module of the 2015 SOEP Innovation Sample (SOEP-IS), "Household Use of Personal and Household Services". The focus is on the questions to what extent the use of household services has increased during the period of observation, whether their use is limited to high-SES couples, and to what extent these services have become professionalized or remain predominantly marginal or precarious work.

See extended abstract

 Presented in Session 105. (Re)Production of Inequalities