Outsourcing and Gender Egalitarianism: Who Hires Help?

Sabino Kornrich , Emory University
Pilar Gonalons Pons, University of Pennsylvania

Short abstract. Gender ideology is a central piece of our understanding about the division of household labor, but we know little about how it shapes decisions about outsourcing household labor. Outsourcing plays a major role in the current organization of household labor, as many hire housecleaners and many more regularly eat out. We use unique survey data that includes measures about gender ideology, household division of labor, and outsourcing routine and care tasks. Preliminary results show that respondents with liberal gender beliefs are more likely to outsource housecleaning, food, and child care. These findings are consistent with the idea that conservative gender beliefs have a preference for home production.

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 Presented in Session 9. Marriage, Family, Households, & Unions; Gender, Race, & Ethnicity