Advancing gender equality in parenting: the remaining challenge
Jose Ignacio Gimenez-Nadal, Almudena Sevilla and Jorge Velilla
The roles of men and women in the labour market have been converging in recent decades, but studies have shown that women are devoting more time to childcare, widening the gender gap in this area. Using data from the UK and the US, from the 1970s to the 2010s, we show that while both men and women have increased their childcare time, the increase has been greater for women. Approximately 50% of childcare duties conflict with normal working hours, and mothers spend about one quarter of their day in the presence of children. This gender difference in childcare responsibilities may hinder the progress of women in the workforce, and unless a more equal share of childcare is achieved, mothers' ability to increase their paid work hours will be limited. A? 2026 selection and editorial matter, Michael Bittman and Oriel Sullivan; individual chapters, the contributors.
14 May 2026
Published in The Routledge International Handbook of Time Use Themes and Applications (2026), Michael Bittman and Oriel Sullivan, volume 2, pp. 133-142, Routledge
This Chapter is part of the centre's Education programme.