Non-standard work schedules,work-family balance and the gendered division of childcare

Abstract

What effect do non-standard work schedules have on how parents of young children can meet the combined and growing demands of work and family? This article uses the Australian Bureau of Statistics Time Use Survey 2006 to explore the relationship between parents’ non-standard work hours, and the time they and their spouse spend in paid work, housework, childcare (subdivided into routine tasks and talk-based interaction) and in their children’s company. Parents who work non-standard hours spend significantly longer in paid work and less time on housework and childcare than those who work standard hours. Spouses’ schedules impact much more on mothers’ than on fathers’ time. When fathers work non-standard hours, mothers do more housework and routine childcare, so the gendered division of household labour intensifies. Mothers’ non-standard hours allow them to schedule their own paid work and family responsibilities around each other, with little effect upon fathers’ unpaid work.