Ourselves Alone: Household Work Strategies in a Deprived Community

Abstract

This paper is concerned with examining the nature of household work strategies in a low income estate in Belfast. It is based on a survey of one in four households within the estate and interviews with one hundred and twenty two school pupils from the area. The paper is divided into three parts. The first section assesses the extent to which male unemployment leads to a renegotiation of the domestic division of labour within the household. The second part of the paper relates to the presence or absence of consumer durables within the household and assesses whether this is connected to the employment status of household members. It examines whether the presence of consumer durables influences the time spent on household labour. The final part of the paper focuses on male involvement in non-routine household tasks.