Gender Divisions of Domestic Work: Housework Shares When Adult Children Live with Mom and Dad

Lyn Craig, University of New South Wales
Abigail Powell, University of New South Wales

This paper examines how housework is shared between parents and their co-resident children aged 15-34, using data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Time Use Survey 2006. It investigates shares of housework along two dimensions: routine versus non-routine household tasks, and domestic work done for the household versus domestic work done for oneself only. The findings show young people take on make minimal shares, but young women contribute more of the routine domestic labor than young men, and older co-resident children do more of the routine housework, housework for the household and housework for themselves. Higher shares among young people displace fathers’ shares, but not mothers’ shares, suggesting young adults’ contribution exacerbates rather than ameliorates gender divisions of labor between parents.