Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Girls’ household chores ‘damage chances in life’
THE unpaid chores young girls do at home contribute to the gender pay gap, according to new research.
The findings suggest that women’s later employment prospects are affected by taking on the weight of the care burden in childhood, adding to existing inequality gaps.
The study, published in the journal Feminist Economics, was conducted by researchers from the Universities of East Anglia (UEA), Birmingham and Brunel.
The team examined data from the Young Lives project, a study of childhood poverty following the lives of 12,000 children from India, Ethiopia, Peru and Vietnam.
Following the lives of young people from the age of eight to 22, the researchers analysed employment participation in any paid work and any sector, type of employment and wages.
Girls spend 40 per cent more time on household chores than boys, according to Unicef.
The research team said that unequal shares of household care work are “highly consequential” for girls and linked to wider inequalities.
Dr Nicholas Vasilakos, of UEA, said the amount and nature of household work influences girls’ school participation, reduces their time for study and can constrain their future employment opportunities.
He said policies to tackle gender inequality in paid work need to take into account unpaid work in childhood.
Dr Vasilakos, Associate Professor of Sustainable Business Economics and Public Policy at UEA’s Norwich Business School, says investing in youth employment is central to development agendas and would help countries meet the UN Sustainable Development Goal of decent work for all by 2030.
He said: “Unequal participation in household work starts at a young age, widening differences over time suggest gendered trajectories.”
Prof Fiona Carmichael, of Birmingham Business School, said: “Longer hours of unpaid household work that reduces girls’ time for study may therefore limit their future lives by constraining employment opportunities.
“This confirms that the care burden to women of their greater share of household work starts back in childhood.”
At age 22, there was already a gender gap in employment participation (85.72 per cent of men compared with 70.64 per cent of women). Women’s hourly wage of US$1.46 per hour was significantly less than men’s US$1.77/hour.
Household work is negatively related to job quality – both type of jobs and earnings – said Dr Christian Darko, a lecturer in Applied Business and Labour Economics at the University of Birmingham.
Prof Shireen Kanji, of Brunel University London, added: “It seems that in comparison to men, women’s employment is likely to be driven to a greater extent by lack of choice or by need, and is characterised by fewer opportunities for well-paid, higher-quality employment.”
However, the study did find that girls whose parents have higher aspirations for them at age 12 have better chances of higher-paid employment at age 22.