Housework sharing among older couples: explaining the gendered division of domestic labour in older age in South Korea

ABSTRACT

Our study investigates the relationship between family models and housework division among older couples. Using the 2019 Korean Time Use Survey, we analysed wives’ share of housework in four family models—dual-earner, traditional (husband-breadwinner), wife-breadwinner, and retired (non-employed) couples—in which at least one partner was aged 65 or above (N = 1,564). Results show that although wives’ housework share varies across the four family models, unequal distribution of housework persists in older age, with wives shouldering over 70 per cent of the total housework regardless of the family model. Wives’ housework share in wife-breadwinner couples was significantly lower than that among dual earners. We also found that economic resources, particularly income, and gender ideology play a limited role in explaining the division of housework among older couples. However, health played a crucial role, with wives and husbands doing more housework when their partners reported poor health.

KEYWORDS:

• Ageing
• housework division among older couples
• South Korea
• unpaid work

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council [grant number Insight Grant (435-2023-1060)]; University of Suwon [grant number 2022-0189].