Gender Norms and Relative Working Hours: Why Do Women Suffer More Than Men from Working Longer Hours Than Their Partners?
AEA Papers and Proceedings
vol. 108,
May 2018
(pp. 163-68)
Abstract
Constraints that prevent women from working longer hours are argued to be important drivers of the gender wage gap in the United States. We provide evidence that in couples where the wife's working hours exceed the husband's, the wife reports lower life satisfaction. By contrast, there is no effect on the husband's satisfaction. The results still hold when controlling for relative income. We argue that these patterns are best explained by perceived fairness of the division of household labor, which induces an aversion to a situation where the wife works more at home and on the labor market.Citation
Fleche, Sarah, Anthony Lepinteur, and Nattavudh Powdthavee. 2018. "Gender Norms and Relative Working Hours: Why Do Women Suffer More Than Men from Working Longer Hours Than Their Partners?" AEA Papers and Proceedings, 108: 163-68. DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20181098Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D63 Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
- I31 General Welfare; Well-Being
- J16 Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
- J22 Time Allocation and Labor Supply