Men's and women's time-use in household production: a Finland- United States comparison

• Main Author: Kirjavainen, Leena M.
• Other Authors: Housing, Interior Design, and Resource Management
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University 2017
• Subjects: LD5655.V856 1984.K574; Husbands > Time management > Finland; Wives > Time management > Finland; Husbands > Time management > United States; Wives > Time management > United States
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10919/74697

The purposes of the study were to (1) investigate similarities and differences in household production of men and women in Finland and the United States, and (2) develop and test a structural equation model of socioeconomic factors (age, education, employment and family situation) for household production across countries and across sexes. The results indicate that (a) total household production of Finnish men is only slightly more than that of U.S. men (7 minutes); (b) total household production of U.S. women (417 minutes) is noticeably more than that of Finnish women (323 minutes; (c) equality ratios strongly suggest differences at almost all employment levels being smaller in Finland than in the United States and indicate that men contribute less time to household production; (d) socioeconomic variables explain a modest amount (3-5 percent) of men's household production but a substantial amount (21-23 percent) of women's household production; (e) the fit of the structural model across sexes and across cultures is significant, i.e., the variables explained similarly the causal effects for household production over groups. The results have implications for further development of cross-national time-use research tools and methods; for the development of a theoretical framework that includes both quantitative and qualitative factors related to sex role behavior in household production; and for the need to design separate models for the study of men and women. Data supported the conclusion that women in both countries still contribute the most time to household production. === Ph. D.