Children of the Revolution: The continued unevenness of the gender revolution in housework, childcare and work time across birth cohorts

Abstract

This study investigates whether parents spend different amounts of time in housework, childcare, and employment across birth cohorts. We apply data from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS; 2003-2018) and age-cohort-period models to compare parents' time spent in these activities across three successive birth cohorts: Baby Boomers (1946-1965), Generation X (1966-1980) and Millennials (1981-2000). For housework time, we find no evidence of cohort change for mothers but for fathers, we observe an increase in housework time with each subsequent cohort. For time spent caring for children, we identify a period effect whereby mothers and fathers regardless of which cohort they belong to are spending more time in primary care of children over time. For work time, we find an increase in mothers' contributions across these birth cohorts. But, net of this overall trend, we find Generation X and Millennial mothers are spending less time in employment relative to Baby Boom mothers. Fathers' employment time, by contrast, has not changed across cohorts or over our measured period. Ultimately, we find gender gaps in childcare, housework and employment across cohorts remain suggesting cohort replacement and period effects are inadequate to close gender gaps in housework, childcare and paid employment time.

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