Gender equality in domestic work and sickness absence - a population-based study on women and men in Sweden

Figures & data

Table 1. Sociodemographic and work-related characteristics of the study population (N = 2,609)

	Study population^1
Characteristics	Women n (% within sex)	Men n (% within sex)	Chi-2 (df)
Partner			2469.2***(1)
Married/cohabiting with a man	1436 (99.1)	22 (1.9)
Married/cohabiting with a woman	13 (0.9)	1138 (98.1)
Age groups			20.81*** (3)
19–30	239 (16.5)	130 (11.2)
31–40	359 (24.2)	259 (22.3)
41–50	358 (24.7)	315 (27.2)
51–64	493 (34.0)	456 (39.3)
Educational level^2			22.89*** (2)
Primary education	223 (15.5)	217 (18.8)
Secondary education	564 (39.1)	522 (45.1)
University or college	654 (45.4)	418 (36.1)
Occupational class^2			83.36*** (3)
Manual±	470 (33.4)	398 (35.2)
Non-manual±±	641 (45.5)	345 (30.5)
High level	285 (20.2)	384 (33.9)
Students	12 (0.8)	5 (0.4)
Labor market status^2			136.74***(1)
Employed	1071 (76.4)	876 (77.9)
Other ±±±	331 (23.6)	249 (22.1)
Employment status^2			83.89***(4)
Permanent position	1067 (83.8)	858 (80.3)
Temporary position	131(9.2)	45 (4.2)
Other	91 (7.0)	166 (15.5)
Managerial position^2
Yes	213 (16.3)	337 (34.8)	108.03***(1)
No	1090 (83.7)	707 (65.2)
Hours/week in paid work^2			289.28***(1)
Full-time (≥35 hours/week)	824 (63.8)	1007 (93.2)
Part-time (<35 hours/week)	467 (36.2)	73 (6.8)
Children <12 years of age living at home^2			1.35 (1)
Yes	688 (48.7)	525 (46.4)
No	725 (51.3)	607 (53.6)
Number of sick leave days past 12 months			14.89** (3)
0 days	855 (59.0)	749 (64.6)
1–7 days	382 (26.4)	296 (25.5)
8–30 days	155 (10.7)	83 (7.2)
> 30 days	57 (3.9)	32 (2.8)

¹Participants on sick leave or disability pension > 75% at the time of the study were omitted

2 Dispersed numbers of participants owing to internal dropouts

±Unskilled/Skilled manual, ±±Low/Medium Non manual

±±± respondents reporting their labor market status as self-employed, student, disability pensioner (part-time), on parental leave, job seeker, unpaid work and other

* p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001.

Table 2. Indicators of gender equality in domestic work and differences between women and men (Pearson chi-2 test) (N = 2609)

		Women		Men
Indicators of gender equality in domestic work		n	%	n	%	Chi-2 (df)
Equality in relationship	Low degree High degree	259 1096	19.1 80.9	152 899	14.5 85.5	9.04** (1)
Planning domestic work	Myself Equal division Partner	879 516 22	62.0 36.4 1.6	57 539 523	5.1 48.2 46.7	1163.99** (2)
Performing domestic work	Myself Equal division Partner	576 784 36	41.3 56.2 2.6	47 694 377	4.2 62.1 33.7	714.21** (2)
Satisfied with division	Low degree High degree	524 924	36.2 63.8	220 936	19.0 81.0	92.72** (1)
Conflicts paid work – family	High degree Low degree	247 1067	18.8 81.2	160 923	14.8 85.2	6.82** (1)

* p < .05, ** p < .01

Table 3. Spearman correlations for indicators of gender equality in domestic work for men/women

Indicators ^a	1	2	3	4	5
1. Equality of relationship	–
2. Planning domestic work	.11**/-.26**	–
3. Performing domestic work	.20**/-.35**	.51**/.54**	–
4. Satisfied with division	.29**/.49**	.02/-.42**	.08**/-.56**	–
5. Conflicts work – family	−.10**/-.12**	.00/.08**	.00/.08**	−.17**/-.13**	–

^aIndicators 1, 4 and 5: range 1 (yes) to 2 (no). Indicators 2 and 3: range 1 (100% myself) to 3 (100% partner).

** p < .01

Table 4. Crude and adjusted Odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) for associations between indicators of gender equality and number of sickness absence days past 12 months, (N = 2609)

Number of sick-leave days past 12 months
	1–7 sick-leave days
	Model 1^1 OR (95%CI)		Model 2^2 OR (95%CI)		Model 3^3 OR (95%CI)
Indicator of gender equality	Women	Men	Women	Men	Women	Men
Satisfied with division
Low degree ^a	1	1	1	1	1	1
High degree	1.01 (.72–1.30)	.66 (.47-.93)	1.00 (.78–1.28)	.67 (.48-.94)	1.00 (.78–1.31)	.66 (.46-.92)
Conflict work – family
Low degree^b	1	1	1	1	1	1
High degree	1.26 (.92–1.73)	1.67 (1.16–2.04)	1.25 (.91–1.72)	1.55 (1.07–2.34)	1.29 (.93–1.78)	1.51 (1.04–2.18)
	8–30 sick-leave days
	Model 1^1 OR (95%CI)		Model 2^2 OR (95%CI)		Model 3^3 OR (95%CI)
Indicator of gender equality	Women	Men	Women	Men	Women	Men
Satisfied with division
Low degree ^a	1	1	1	1	1	1
High degree	.91 (.64–1.29)	.56 (.33-.95)	.90 (.63–1.29)	.56 (.36-.96)	.95 (.65–1.36)	.56 (.32-.97)
Conflict work – family
Low degree^b	1	1	1	1	1	1
High degree	1.52 (.99–2.33)	.83 (.40–1.72)	1.53 (1.0–2.37)	.75 (.36–1.56)	1.51 (1.0–2.33)	.75 (.36–1.57)
	>30 sick-leave days
	Model 1^1 OR (95%CI)		Model 2^2 OR (95%CI)		Model 3^3 OR (95%CI)
Indicator of gender equality	Women	Men	Women	Men	Women	Men
Satisfied with division
Low degree ^a	1	1	1	1	1	1
High degree	1.04 (.59–1.83)	.28 (.14-.58)	1.08 (.61–1.89)	.27 (.13-.56)	1.32 (.72–2.43)	.23 (.10-.52)
Conflict work – family
Low degree^b	1	1	1	1	1	1
High degree	1.61 (.82–3.17)	1.16 (.39–3.43)	1.74 (.87–3.47)	1.23 (.41-.3.72)	1.89 (.96–3.80)	1.20 (.40–3.63)

¹Model 1, crude model, 2 Model 2, adjusted for age and having children below 12 years of age ³ Model 3, adjusted for variables in Model 2 and number of hours in paid work.

^aReference category is low degree of satisfaction with division of domestic work ᵇ Reference category is low degree of conflicts between paid work and unpaid domestic work in family.