The Managerial Aspect of Household Labor

Focusing on Managing/Organizing Time

Abstract

A number of researches have focused on household labor to uncover gender inequality. Previous quantitative research on household labor has conceptualized household labor as including time-consuming tasks such as cooking, dishwashing, or cleaning rooms. This conceptualization was criticized because it does not include the management aspect of household labor. Based on this criticism, I argue that managing and organizing time are indispensable factors of household labor. In addition, findings of previous research suggest that women undertake that kind of household labor in Japan.
To support my argument with an exploratory analysis, I used the Japanese Life Course Panel Surveys and fixed effects models to estimate the changes in the timings of waking up, going out, coming home, and going to bed, after women and men marry or have a child. Results show that waking up, coming home, and going to bed are completed earlier for married men and women than for the never married. Women wake up, come home, and go to bed earlier when they have a child. Men’s timings for these activities are less responsive to having a child than women’s. Findings suggest that, the responsibility of restructuring time use in their daily lives to meet the increased demands of household labor after the birth of a child, is borne by women.