<ARTICLES>The Division of Household Labor in Double-Income Families : Nuclear Families with Both Parents Working Full-Time with Children in Nursery Schools

In this paper, I examine the division of household labor in nuclear families, where both parents are full-time workers and their children are in nursery schools, using data from a survey that I made with the co-operation of 7 nursery schools in the Hokusetsu-area (in the north Osaka) in July 2002. I divided household labor into four categories, according to the type of labor, the frequency at which it is conducted, and whether it can be put off or not. The categories are 1) daily household labor that cannot be put off, 2) daily household labor that can be put off, 3) irregular household labor that can put off, and 4) child care. Most of the respondents do not agree with the division of labor between sexes. However, the mothers tend to take the largest responsibility for most of the household labor, especially daily chores that cannot be put off. The husbands share is largest when the household labor is irregular and able to be put off. In order to examine the linear effects of time availability, gender, and economic resource bargaining on the division of household labor, I use the number of the fathers' working hours per week, the number of the mothers' working hours per week, the fathers' gender-role attitude, the mothers' gender-role attitude, and the percentage of the mothers' income within the sum of both parents' income as explanatory variables. The variables that have significant effect on the division of household labor between parents differ with the types of household labor. The working hours of the fathers has a significant effect on all types of household labor and that of the mothers has an effect on all but the irregular household labor that can be put off. The gender-role attitude of the fathers has minimal effect, and that of the mothers has effect on the daily household labor that cannot be put off and on childcare. When the fathers' ages, the mothers' ages, and whether or not they have a child under three are controlled, the percentage of the mothers' income within the sum of both parents' income seems to be related to the daily household labor that cannot be put off. However, after viewing the effects in detail, a liner effect is not evident. Furthermore, when a child becomes feverish, the mothers tend to take him or her to see a doctor and are more likely to take time off work to look after him or her. Most of the respondents think that this is because their work environments allow the mothers to do this more easily than the fathers