Does Teleworking affect Housework Division and Improve the Well-Being of Couples?

Giovanis, Eleftheris (2015): Does Teleworking affect Housework Division and Improve the Well-Being of Couples?

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between teleworking, gender roles and happiness of couples using data from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) during the period 1991-2009. Various approaches are followed; Probit-adapted fixed effects, multinomial Logit and three stage least squares. The results support that both men and women who are teleworkers spend more time on housework, while teleworking increases the probability that the household chores examined in this study, such as cooking, cleaning ironing and childcare, will be shared relatively to those who are non-teleworkers. In addition, women are happier when they or their spouse is teleworker, as well as, both men and women are happier when they state that the specific household chores are shared. Thus, teleworkers may be happier for the reason that they are able to face the family demands and share the household chores with their spouse, increasing their fairness belief about the household division allocation and improving their well-being, expressed by happiness.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Gender Roles; Household Production; Teleworking; Well-Being
• Subjects: D - Microeconomics > D1 - Household Behavior and Family Economics; D - Microeconomics > D1 - Household Behavior and Family Economics > D10 - General; D - Microeconomics > D1 - Household Behavior and Family Economics > D13 - Household Production and Intrahousehold Allocation; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I3 - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty > I31 - General Welfare, Well-Being; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J1 - Demographic Economics > J16 - Economics of Gender ; Non-labor Discrimination

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