The Influence of Mothers’ Housework Teaching on Children’s View on Gender Roles

Abstract

    Sociological research on children's housework is scarce in Japan and rarely considered in relation to the transmission of gender roles. It is widely acknowledged that children's participation in housework is influenced by their gender, and girls spend more time on chores than boys. This paper shed some light on the teaching of housework to children and focused on its effect on how children view gender roles. This study utilized the Japanese Longitudinal Study of Children and Parents 2015 and 2017 by the Institute of Social Science at the University of Tokyo and Benesse Educational Research and Development Institute, the data from a sample of 3,616 sons and daughters aged 10-18 who live with their parents and their mothers being analyzed.
    In this paper, whether or not teaching housework had an equalizing effect on children's ideas of gender roles is discussed. Compared with girls, boys were more likely to support the notion that “it is preferable that men engage in paid work and women in housework.” Combined with mothers' behavior in teaching skills for cooking or cleaning, it was found that the more frequently mothers teach household chores to their children, the more gender-equalized their sons' perception grows. On the other hand, however, no significant impact was found on daughters. This effect was observed even after controlling for mothers' gender ideology, education, occupation, and other factors.