GENDER EQUALITY AND PARTICIPATION IN HOUSEWORK - A CROSS-NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

This paper examines men's and women's participation in housework in th e United States, Sweden, Norway, Canada and Australia. While there has been considerable research into the factors relating to the division of housework between husbands and wives within countries, very little research has examined the way in which housework patterns vary across countries. The results show that women continue to undertake the bulk of domestic labor in all five countries, and that the factors determin ing men's and women's participation in housework do not vary markedly across countries. This suggests that variations across countries in le vels of gender equality at a broader level have only very limited effe cts on levels of gender equality in the home.