Chinese Husbands’ Participation in Household Labor

Abstract

A traditional saying in China is that “Men dominate the outside; women dominate the inside.” The first part of this saying has clearly changed, as Chinese women of working age show near universal participation in paid labor. To what extent is the second part of this saying still reflected in modern China? We examine this question using data from the China Health and Nutrition Study. We selected a subsample of 2,580 wives aged 20-55 and their husbands in order to analyze husbands’ participation in three traditionally female household tasks and child care. We examine absolute and relative measures of husbands’ participation for urban and rural residents separately, and we identify determinants of husbands’ greater participation. We find that urban husbands contribute more than rural husbands, but regardless of residency, wives do the vast majority of household labor and child care. Findings for the urban sample are most consistent with those of U.S. studies and show at least partial support for three major explanations of the division of household labor: time availability, gender-role ideologies, and relative power. We suggest possible ways to alleviate the “double day” experienced by Chinese wives.

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