Change in the Division of Domestic Work: Micro-Sociological Evidence from three Countries

This paper introduces a new variable to the discussion of socioeconomic dynamics in household panel studies : the division of domestic labour among married or cohabiting couples, as estimated from the panel respondents' answers to questions about their own domestic work time. The paper provides, for the first time, direct evidence that the balance of domestic labour between men and women in couples is directly influenced by changes in spouses' participation in paid work. It uses evidence from PACO database of harmonised national household panel surveys to provide a clear illustration of the class of research problem that requires panel evidence rather than cross-sectional or retrospective data for its solution.