Are Spanish couples less egalitarian than couples elsewhere in Europe? Differences in time dedicated to unpaid work between Spain, Italy, France, Germany and the United Kingdom

Abstract

This article explores how female employment rates affect the sharing of non-remunerated work within couples in different countries. Spain is compared with Germany, France and the United Kingdom where female labour force participation increased several years earlier, and also with Italy, which displays similar characteristics to those of Spain. The main objective is to determine if differences in time spent engaging in unpaid work are due to truly different time use patterns or due to the distribution of population characteristics such as lower female labour force participation in Southern European countries.
The results reveal that although the differences between countries will not disappear entirely, the gap will narrow if female employment rates continue to equalize, provided that there is no dramatic change in occupational characteristics.