Family Economics - Division of Labor Within The Family

Division of Labor Within The Family

Family members divide their time between work inside the household and market work. The family as a unit may decide on which member of the family will do which task. Household work can be categorized in terms of whether the whole family benefits or only some members of the household. Some call 'housework' activities benefiting the whole family like laundry or cleaning and 'carework' activities that are done specifically for another member of the household, usually because that member is not able to do that work for himself or herself. Two basic forms of carework are child care and elder care. Household work benefiting the spouse more than the individual could include cooking or laundry as well as carework for spouses able to do the work themselves.

According to some neoclassical theories, the division of labor between household and market work is related to the utility function of the individuals within the family. In case a family has a greater preference for the goods that can be bought from the market, they can allocate more time to market work and buy goods from the market. If they have tastes for goods that are produced in the household, they may prefer to do more household work and consume goods produced within the household. Becker assumed that women have a comparative advantage in domestic work, which means they are able to produce more within the household, while men have comparative advantage in market work, which means that they are able to earn more compared with women. When women specialize in household production and men specialize in market production, and share what they produce, both men and women maximize their utilities.

Complete specialization however can bring some risks and disadvantages: the need for domestic work might decrease (especially when children grow up)and women who have completely specialized in household work might not be able to gain a decent wage when they return to market work; when both spouses have some experience in domestic work they can be more independent in case of divorce or death of a spouse. Barbara Bergman wrote that women's complete specialization in household labor, namely their being fulltime housewives, often leads to women's financial insecurity and increases their likelihood of being subjected to domestic violence relative to situations of women working in the market and earning wages.

Participation of women in the labor market has grown dramatically since the 19th Century. It has been limited by institutional factors such as quotas on how many women can be employed and in what industries. For example, in England in the second half of the 19th century there was a campaign, supported by working class men, to restrict female market employment. Similarly, there have been bars on women's employment in the United States, including laws preventing women from being employed after marriage. In some countries like Japan, there are still some quotas on the market employment of women or on the employment of married women.