Patriarchal Hierarchy? Gender, Children’s Housework Time, and Family Structure in Post-Reform China

Abstract

Drawing on data from the 2010 China Family Panel Studies, this research investigates the gendered patterns of the time spent by girls and boys on housework in families with distinct structures, with the presence at home or absence from home of the mother, father, elder/younger sister and brother, and male/female extended family members. The results support the theory of gendered domestic-labor substitution, as children are seen to “substitute” for the lack and benefit from the surplus of domestic labor resulting from the absence/presence of other male and female family members. The results also depict a neopatriarchal hierarchy that regulates the complex (re)production of domestic gender inequalities in the Chinese family. Addressing the intersection between the “stalled” and “uneven” domestic gender revolution and the increasing diversity of family forms in post-reform China, this research underlines the importance of mainstreaming children into research on the gendered division of domestic labor.

Acknowledgments

The author gratefully acknowledges the support from Professor Xiaogang Wu and Professor Yingchun Ji, as well as the constructive comments from Professor Xiaoling Shu and the anonymous reviewers. An earlier version of this article was presented at the 2017 Shanghai Social Science Summer Symposium (S5), the constructive comments received at this event are gratefully acknowledged. The author is thankful for the helpful comments received from the Lancaster Asia Area Research Group (LAARG). The data used in this research are from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), funded by the 985 Program of Peking University and carried out by the Institute of Social Science Survey at Peking University. The author is solely responsible for the analyses and interpretations presented in this article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yang Hu

Yang Hu ([email protected]) is a lecturer in the Department of Sociology at Lancaster University, UK. He obtained his PhD in Sociology as a Gates Scholar from the University of Cambridge. His research focuses on the sociology of families and intimate relationships, race/ethnicity, and migration, and East Asian societies. His is the author of the book Chinese-British Intermarriage—Disentangling Gender and Ethnicity. His recent research has appeared in the Journal of Marriage and Family, European Sociological Review, Journal of Sex Research, Demographic Research, Environment and Planning A, Journal of Family Issues, and British Journal of Sociology of Education.