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2011 25: 274Work Employment SocietyLyn Craig and Abigail Powell

division of childcareNon-standard work schedules, work-family balance and the gendered

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Work-life balance: article

398894WESXXX10.1177/0950017011398894Craig and PowellWork, employment and society

Corresponding author:Lyn Craig, Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.Email: [email protected]

Non-standard work schedules, work-family balance and the gendered division of childcare

Lyn CraigUniversity of New South Wales, Australia

Abigail PowellUniversity of New South Wales, Australia

AbstractWhat effect do non-standard work schedules have on how parents of young children can meet the combined and growing demands of work and family? This article uses the Australian Bureau of Statistics Time Use Survey 2006 to explore the relationship between parents non-standard work hours, and the time they and their spouse spend in paid work, housework, childcare (subdivided into routine tasks and talk-based interaction) and in their childrens company. Parents who work non-standard hours spend significantly longer in paid work and less time on housework and childcare than those who work standard hours. Spouses schedules impact much more on mothers than on fathers time. When fathers work non-standard hours, mothers do more housework and routine childcare, so the gendered division of household labour intensifies. Mothers non-standard hours allow them to schedule their own paid work and family responsibilities around each other, with little effect upon fathers unpaid work.

Keywordschildcare, gender division of labour, non-standard work schedules, time use, work-family balance

Introduction

Increasing numbers of employees work non-standard hours, generally defined as those outside daytime hours on Monday to Friday (i.e. evenings, nights and weekends). Evenings and weekends, traditionally reserved for family and leisure time, are increas-ingly given up to paid work. What implications does this have for parents who have to juggle the competing demands of earning a living and caring for young children? This

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Craig and Powell 275

article explores how time use in families, including paid and unpaid work, time with children and the specific childcare activities they perform, differs when a parent works non-standard hours. It adds to previous research by identifying associations between non-standard hours and the time allocation both of the parent who works them and of their spouse, and by exploring gender differences in these associations.

Background

Working non-standard hours

In many western countries, more employees now work non-standard hours (Rapoport and Le Bourdais, 2008). In Australia, over 64 per cent of employees work some hours at night (between 7pm and 7am) or at weekends (ABS, 2002). The trend includes families with children. In nearly 60 per cent of couple families, one or both parents usually work some hours between 7pm and 7am (ABS, 2009).

The growth in non-standard work schedules has been attributed to job demands and opportunities, the 24/7 economy and insecure work conditions. Non-standard hours and shift work are most frequently associated with low wages, low levels of education and particular occupations and industries (Beers, 2000; Grosswald, 2003; Millward, 2002; Presser, 2003). In the US, non-standard workers are most likely to be in service occupations, particularly in trade or personal service industries (Kimmel and Powell, 2001). Shiftwork is more common among men than women (ABS, 2002). However, non-standard hours are reportedly increasing for women, possibly because they are over-represented in industries with high proportions of shift workers (Millward, 2002). Women are also more likely than men to work part time (Tausig and Fenwick, 2001) and shift work is more common among part-time employees (Beers, 2000). The incidence of part-time work for women is particu-larly high in Australia, where part-time jobs are usually casual, non-permanent positions, contingent upon employers requirements and lacking conditions such as sick leave and holiday pay (ABS, 2009; OECD, 2007).

Employment patterns and the gender division of care

Coordinating work and family activities has become increasingly difficult as women have moved into the workforce (Presser, 1988). Many parents are dissatisfied with the balance between their work and family lives but it is a particular problem for women (Buchanan and Thornthwaite, 2001; Craig, 2007a). The growth in womens employ-ment was widely expected to have a corresponding effect on mens unpaid work (Bergmann, 2005). On average, however, men have only slightly increased the time they spend doing housework and while they are spending more time on childcare, research consistently finds that mothers spend two to three times more with children than do fathers (Baxter, 2009; Casper and Bianchi, 2002; Craig and Bittman, 2008). Perhaps because inflexible workplace expectations entwine with persistent masculine gender norms to ensure men prioritize employment over home duties, mothers are still much more likely than fathers to move in and out of the workforce, or limit their paid work to care for young children (Gornick and Meyers, 2009; Lewis, 2009; Williams, 2001).



276 Work, employment and society 25(2)

Also, fathers are less likely than mothers to be involved across the whole range of childcare tasks (Craig, 2007b; Fuligni and Brooks-Gunn, 2004). More of fathers child-care time is spent talking, reading, listening and playing with children, than doing physi-cal care tasks such as bathing, dressing, feeding, changing and putting children to bed (Craig, 2006; Lamb, 1997; Starrels, 1994). This means that mothers do more of the labo-rious physical care activities, which must often be done routinely at certain times of the day. In contrast, fathers predominantly talk-based childcare is less time critical and probably more enjoyable (Craig, 2006). Also, mothers are more likely than fathers to do childcare on their own, rather than with their partner. This implies that the default respon-sibility for supervising children falls to mothers, and that fathers most often join in, rather than take over the care of children (Fuligni and Brooks-Gunn, 2004). It is more commonly the mother who, for example, picks a child up from day care, takes them home and begins the evening routine of preparing dinner and bathing children, while the father joins the family at the end of his (longer) working day. A higher proportion of fathers than of mothers time with children is spent in joint activities, such as watching television or having dinner together, than in active childcare care tasks (Craig, 2007b). So not only the amount but also the composition and the social context of childcare differ by sex. This is important because it implies that participation in childcare activities, and time spent with children, may be more burdensome and time-constraining for mothers than fathers. Routine care and time alone with children may, however, be expected to increase for parents if their spouse works non-standard hours.

Research has also found that although employed mothers spend less daily time with children than non-employed mothers, they do not trade off time in paid work against time performing childcare on a one-for-one basis (Bittman et al., 2004; Hofferth, 2001). This is particularly the case for talk-based care, which is almost the same for employed and non-employed mothers (Craig, 2007b). Mothers maintain this care time partly by cutting back on their own leisure and personal care activities (Bianchi, 2005; Craig, 2007c). However, another major reason may be that mothers strategically schedule their employ-ment around their children, and vice versa. Part-time work is widely viewed as a way mothers can manage their family responsibilities while also remaining in paid work (Plantenga and Remery, 2005; Rubery and Grimshaw, 2003). It is often undertaken dur-ing school hours so as not to interfere with mothers family responsibilities (Craig and Sawrikar, 2009). Similarly, doing work at non-standard hours (particularly night shifts) may mean parents can preserve their own time with children. This may or may not also affect the time allocation of their spouse.

Families and non-standard work

There is much discussion in the literature about why parents work non-standard hours and the impact this can have on family life. Parents may work non-standard hours for childcare reasons, or alternatively they may do so because their job demands it (see for example Beers, 2000; Hosking and Western, 2005; Presser and Cox, 1997). Research on the effect of non-standard work schedules tends to focus on the negative impacts upon workers and/or their children (see for example Allan et al., 1998; Costa, 1996; Davis et al., 2008; Rosenbaum and Morett, 2009; Strazdins et al., 2004), particularly as




non-standard hours often mean increased time in paid work, making less time available for domestic work, children and leisure (Barnes et al., 2006; Brayfield, 1995; Connelly and Kimmel, 2007). This research suggests that families who actively choose to work non-standard hours may be few. This may be because, as noted above, non-standard hours workers are likely to have low level occupations and qualifications and therefore relatively weak bargaining power in the workplace (Millward, 2002). It may be that mothers with lower skills and education choose to work non-standard hours due to finan-cial constraints that inhibit them from using formal childcare, rather than because they prefer to do so (Han, 2004). In the UK, Barnes et al. (2006) showed that non-standard hours have a greater impact on mothers time than on fathers time. They also found little evidence of parents compensating for the reduced time their spouse spent with children as a result of working non-standard hours.

Converse, evidence suggests non-standard hours have a potentially positive effect on work-life balance, particularly when employees have a high level of control over the hours they work. Highly educated and professional workers are more likely to have such control. Also, some parents, particularly mothers, state that they work non-standard hours to make childcare easier or so their partner can provide childcare (Han, 2004; La Valle et al., 2002; Millward, 2002). Many families prefer not to outsource childcare, but to provide it all themselves. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (2009) finds 17 per cent of Australian dual-earner households where the youngest child is under five years old use only parental childcare. For very young children the true figure may be even higher; Gray et al. (2008) found 33 per cent of Australian dual-earner couples use parent-only childcare for infants aged 314 months. In the US, Kimmel and Powell (2001) found that working non-standard hours significantly reduces the likelihood of families paying for childcare.

The effects are mixed, however. Gray et al. (2008) found that while Australian parent-only care is reasonably high, the main factor impacting on the likelihood of the father providing childcare was the mother working non-standard hours (evenings, nights or weekends). They found in many dual-earner families the use of parent-only care was the result of mothers combining caring and paid work simultaneously, rather than increased father involvement. US studies by Brayfield (1995), Rapoport and Le Bourdais (2008), Nock and Kingston (1988) and Presser (1988) suggest fathers are more likely to participate in childcare if their spouse works non-standard hours. Also in the US, Han (2004) showed that fathers are more likely to do childcare if both parents work non-standard hours, than if both work standard hours. Brayfield (1995) found the scheduling of mothers and fathers paid work had a clear impact on fathers childcare patterns. Fathers who worked non-standard hours themselves spent less time caring for their children than fathers who worked standard hours. She also showed, however, that the more hours a mother worked, the likelihood of fathers caring for children was lower, suggesting that higher demand actually inhibits rather than facilitates fathers childcare (see also Rapoport and Le Bourdais, 2008). Kimmel and Powell (2001) found that more children in the family increased the probability of mothers working non-standard hours. They suggest that moth-ers with more children use non-standard work to juggle work and family. They also found that while a substantial proportion of mothers who work non-standard hours rely on their partner for childcare, almost half depend on non-parental childcare. A US study by Wight et al. (2008) found that the timing of non-standard hours work may also be important, with




night work less disruptive to children than evening work, which often meant parents were absent for activities such as family meals and to help with homework.

Research thus gives an unclear picture of how non-standard hours might affect how families manage the competing demands of earning a living and caring for young chil-dren, and how they differ depending on which parent works them. The effects of non-standard hours on working parents own time have been explored using time use surveys in the UK (Barnes et al., 2006) and the US (Connelly and Kimmel, 2007; Nock and Kingston, 1988; Wight et al., 2008). The research noted above has documented effects upon fathers when mothers work non-standard hours. There has, however, been little research addressing the association between fathers working non-standard hours and their spouses time, or how non-standard hours relate to the gendered division of labour within households. This is an important gap, as the enduring discrepancies in male and female work and family roles may mean the effects of non-standard work schedules dif-fer systematically by gender.

Research focus

This article progresses research by investigating whether and how a parents non-stan-dard work schedule is associated with the amount of time both they and their spouse spend on paid work, domestic work, childcare and in childrens company, and the extent to which these associations are gendered. It also examines the effects of non-standard hours on the composition of childcare, that is, whether it comprises routine physical care activities as well as interactive talk-based activities, and whether time with children is spent alone or shared with a spouse. It examines the effects separately by sex, and there-fore explores whether non-standard hours have the potential to impact on gender equality in the division of household labour and care.

Methodology

Data

Data are from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2006 Time Use Survey (TUS). The TUS contains a nationally representative sample of Australian households. All indi-viduals aged 15 years and over in sampled households are required to provide informa-tion including what they are doing, who they are with and where they are for a period of two days, to a detail level of five minute intervals. This means that in couple households data are available from both partners, so we can examine a respondents activities together with their spouses time. The survey also collects extensive demographic infor-mation. For this study we select parents, either married or cohabiting, aged 2054 with at least one child 011 years old (N=1240).

Definitions

Non-standard hours are here defined as those worked between 7pm and 7am Monday to Friday (evenings or nights: E/N) and any time on Saturday or Sunday (weekends:




W/E). Parents who work non-standard hours are defined as those who do some or all of their paid work within non-standard hours, while parents who work standard hours are defined as those who only work weekdays between 7am and 7pm. E/N and W/E are analysed separately because they may have different effects on families time use.

Measures

The key time use measures are total daily minutes spent in paid work, domestic work and childcare and total daily minutes spent in childrens company (excluding time when respondents were sleeping). Daily minutes spent in childrens company cap-tures time parents are together with children but not necessarily providing active childcare.

Childcare is disaggregated by activity, into

(1) interactive talk-based care including talking, listening, teaching, reading and playing games with children; and

(2) physical and accompanying routine care, including feeding, bathing, dressing, putting children to bed, transporting children, waiting or meeting children, ensur-ing their safety and handing them over to substitute carers.

As discussed above, this is an important distinction because fathers spend a much higher proportion of their care in talk-based than in routine care activities (Craig, 2006).

Daily minutes spent in childrens company is disaggregated into time i) spent alone with children and ii) with a spouse also present. Again this is an important distinction since research shows fathers are more likely to join in care with their spouse than to take sole responsibility for children (Craig, 2006). We also use these measures to calculate parents combined time with children (i.e. when either or both parents are with their children), to examine whether children spend any more or less time in parents company in households in which non-standard hours are worked.

Analysis plan

Using independent samples t-tests to identify significant differences, this study first con-ducts bivariate analyses of parents work schedules and their own time use, and that of their spouse. To differentiate impacts by gender and day of the week, group respondents are grouped by whether time diaries were completed on weekdays or on weekends and by whether households have a father or mother usually in employment. In order to tap the effect of non-standard hours on whole households, the groups are not constrained by the labour force status of the employed parents spouse, so may include non-working part-ners. The grouping yields four subsamples:

Diary completed on a weekday, (1) mother employed full-time or part-time (N = 509) Diary completed on a weekday, (2) father employed full-time or part-time (N = 682) Diary completed on a weekend, (3) mother employed full-time or part-time (N = 346) Diary completed on a weekend, (4) father employed full-time or part-time (N = 486)




The next stage of the analysis looks at dual-earner households only, to explore what effect non-standard hours have on how parents manage the demands of work and family when both partners are employed. Multivariate regression analyses (OLS) of paid work, domestic work, total childcare, routine childcare, total time in childrens company and time alone in childrens company are conducted. To identify associations between both a parents own time use and their partners work schedules and time use, the explanatory variables of interest are

(1) a respondents work schedule; and(2) their spouses work schedule (non-standard hours = 1).

Factors that may independently impact upon time spent in the outcome variables are controlled. These are respondents employment status (employed part-time = 1), occupa-tion status (professional = 1), education (has a degree = 1) and long hours (50+ per week = 1), the number of children and age of youngest child in the household (aged 511 = 1). The reference category in each model is a household in which there is one child aged 04 years, mother works standard hours, father works standard hours, respondent parent is employed full-time, has no tertiary education, does not work in a professional occupation and does not work long hours. The models are run separately for weekdays (N = 490) and weekends (N = 331). Sample characteristics are in Table A1.

Results

Descriptive analysisNon-standard work schedules and own time. Parents who work non-standard hours spend significantly more time in paid work and less time on domestic work, childcare activities and in the company of children, than parents who work standard hours. This is true of both mothers and fathers and of both E/N work and W/E work. Parents who work non-standard hours also spend significantly less time than other parents in their childrens company, both alone and with their spouse, again on both weekdays and weekends. Mothers who work weekends are the exception to this, however, spending only marginally less time alone in childrens company than mothers who do not work weekends (Table 1).

Taking account of both partners time, couples together average more time in paid work if either parent works non-standard hours. Despite this, when either parent works non-standard hours, the total combined time couples spend in their childrens company is not significantly affected (t-test results available upon request). This suggests that if one parent spends less time in their childrens company as a result of working non-standard hours, the other parent compensates by spending more time in their childrens company. (Recall, however, that time spent in childrens company does not necessarily mean active childcare is being carried out.)

Mothers non-standard work schedules and fathers time. When mothers work either E/N or W/E, the total amount of time fathers spend in domestic work, childcare and in their childrens company is not significantly different from that of fathers whose spouse works only standard hours (Table 2). Fathers average paid work is also not significantly dif-ferent when mothers work E/N, but fathers appear to spend significantly longer in paid work if their spouse works W/E hours.




Table 1. Parents work schedules and their own time use (mean daily minutes)

Mothers time by her own work schedule

Weekdays Weekends

Standard hours

Works E/N

Difference Standard hours

Works W/E

Difference

Paid work 199 455 256*** 0 260 260***Domestic work 226 161 64*** 284 216 68***Childcare: 209 143 66*** 181 150 30 i) Talk-based activities 81 54 27*** 77 69 8 ii) Routine care activities 118 79 39*** 98 78 21Total time in childrens company:

635 494 141*** 801 693 108**

i) Alone 310 241 68*** 224 189 34 ii) With spouse 326 253 73** 577 503 74*

Fathers time by his own work schedule

Standard hours

Works E/N

Difference Standard hours

Works W/E

Difference

Paid work 409 612 203*** 0 404 404***Domestic work 104 65 39*** 228 104 124***Childcare: 89 58 31*** 138 83 55*** i) Talk-based activities 43 31 13** 73 46 28*** ii) Routine care activities 43 25 18*** 61 34 27***Total time in childrens company:

442 316 126*** 746 509 237***

i) Alone 94 54 40*** 133 82 52*** ii) With spouse 348 262 86*** 612 427 185***

***p


Together these results suggest non-standard hours impact strongly on the gendered division of household labour, and that the effects differ according to which partner has the non-standard work schedule. The gender difference is minimized when mothers work non-standard hours, because they themselves spend more time in paid work and less time in unpaid work, while fathers time in unpaid work differs very little. Conversely, the gender difference is maximized when fathers work non-standard hours, with men doing less unpaid work while mothers do much more. So mothers household time is impacted much more by their spouses schedule than is fathers. Both these outcomes may arise because many of the employed mothers work part-time. This form of work is especially common in Australia. It is likely that mothers who work short non-standard hours can perform housework and childcare activities around their own work schedule rather than handing them over to the father. As mothers average even more housework and childcare when fathers work non-standard hours than when they do not, it may be that fathers non-standard work schedules impact negatively on their partners ability to work many hours, or to participate in paid work at all. The implication is that regardless of which spouse works non-standard hours, the default responsibility for domestic work and childcare usually rests with women.

Table 2. Parents work schedules and spouses time use (mean daily minutes)

Fathers time by mothers work schedule

Weekdays Weekends

Mother std hours

Mother E/N

Difference Mother std hours

Mother W/E

Difference

Paid work 506 524 18 118 211 92*Domestic work 93 85 8 192 169 23Childcare: 72 75 3 116 113 3 i) Talk-based activities 36 32 4 64 59 5 ii) Routine care activities 34 43 9 48 50 1Total time in childrens company:

378 389 11 668 655 13

i) Alone 68 159 90*** 111 188 77*** ii) With spouse 309 230 79*** 557 467 89**

Mothers time by fathers work schedule

Father std hours

Father E/N

Difference Father std hours

Father W/E

Difference

Paid work 195 173 22 29 44 16Domestic work 226 247 21* 266 275 9Childcare: 205 241 36** 186 217 31* i) Talk-based activities 79 93 13 78 87 9 ii) Routine care activities 114 137 23* 102 124 22*Total time in childrens company:

637 678 41 789 808 19

i) Alone 289 389 100*** 158 349 191*** ii) With spouse 348 289 59*** 631 458 172***

***p


We now turn to multivariate analyses to see if these findings persist when the sample is narrowed to dual-earner households only and when potentially confounding demo-graphic characteristics are controlled.

Multivariate analysis

Non-standard work schedules and parents own time. The multivariate analyses confirm that when parents themselves work non-standard hours, it has a significant effect on how they spend their own time (Table A2). Mothers and fathers who work non-standard hours spend significantly more time in paid work and significantly less time in domestic work, childcare, routine care and in their childrens company. Fathers are also estimated to spend significantly less time alone in their childrens company if they work some hours at E/N or W/E, while mothers are estimated to spend significantly less time alone in their childrens company, only if they work some W/E hours.

Both mothers and fathers time is significantly associated with their employment status, but only on weekdays. Thus, on weekdays, part-time employment predicts signifi-cantly less paid work and more domestic work, childcare and time in childrens company for fathers, and significantly less paid work and more domestic work and time in chil-drens company for mothers. Mothers childcare time, however, is not significantly asso-ciated with their employment status, indicating that mothers maintain similar levels of childcare regardless of whether they work full-time or part-time. Parents time allocation is also significantly associated with the age of the youngest child, particularly for moth-ers and on weekdays. This is likely to be because older children are in school, decreasing the need for care and increasing opportunity for paid work. This is a more salient issue for women as they are usually the primary care-givers, and these findings support previ-ous research suggesting mothers adjust their paid work hours around childcare, and vice versa (Bianchi, 2005; Craig, 2007c).

Mothers non-standard work schedules and fathers time. When mothers work E/N or W/E and all else is held constant, fathers time in paid work, domestic work and child-care and in childrens company is not predicted to differ significantly from fathers whose spouse works no non-standard hours (Table A2). So even in dual-earner households mothers non-standard hours are not associated with differences in the total amount of time fathers spend with children, or in paid and unpaid work activities, including child-care. However, there are significant differences in the composition of fathers childcare and time with children in association with their spouses work schedules. Fathers are estimated to spend significantly longer on routine care if their spouse works some E/N hours and significantly longer alone in their childrens company if their spouse works either E/N or W/E. The results for time alone with children echo the descriptive findings, but the results for routine care differ. This suggests that in dual-earner households when mothers work non-standard hours, fathers time in childcare is not higher overall, but a higher proportion of it is spent in activities such as feeding, bathing, dressing and taking children to and from school and day care.

A number of control variables are significantly associated with fathers time use. Long employment hours are unsurprisingly predicted to increase fathers time in paid work,




and to decrease time in routine care and total time in their childrens company on both weekdays and weekends. Long employment hours decrease fathers time in domestic work, childcare and alone in their childrens company only on weekdays. Also, fathers are estimated to spend more time in childcare activities and more time alone with children if they have two or more children. This likely reflects parents spending time with differ-ent children independently.

Fathers non-standard work schedules and mothers time. Fathers non-standard hours have a varied association with their spouses time, depending on the timing of the hours. When fathers work E/N, net of controls mothers time significantly differs in all depen-dent variables except paid work. Thus, mothers are estimated to spend significantly lon-ger on domestic work, childcare and in their childrens company. More of their childcare is composed of routine activities and more of their time in their childrens company is alone, in sole charge (Table A2).

Fathers weekday non-standard hours therefore have a big effect on mothers house-hold work, even when mothers are themselves employed full-time. When fathers work W/E hours, only mothers time in domestic work, and alone in their childrens company, are significantly higher. Time spent in childcare, routine care and in their childrens com-pany in total are estimated to remain unchanged. This suggests fathers E/N work has a greater impact on how employed mothers spend their time than does fathers W/E work. This is perhaps because all mothers spend time with their children on weekends. Finally, mothers are estimated to spend more time in domestic work and less time in childcare, including routine care, and more time alone with children if they have older children, and more time in childcare, including routine care, if they have two or more children.

Discussion and conclusion

Using nationally representative time use data of matched couples in Australia, this article explored links between non-standard work schedules and the way parents of young chil-dren manage the time demands of work and family. It identified associations between non-standard hours and the time allocation both of the parent who works them and of their spouse, and noted gender differences in these associations.

Parents who worked some non-standard hours spent more time in paid work and less time in domestic work and childcare activities, and in their childrens company, than parents who worked standard hours only. This was the case for both women and men, and on both weekdays and weekends. This clear and consistent result from both the descriptive and multivariate analyses confirmed previous findings in the UK (Barnes et al., 2006) and the US (Brayfield, 1995; Connelly and Kimmel, 2007). Extending this using data from both partners allowed us to calculate their combined time allocation, and we found that parents joint time in their childrens company (that is, time when either or both parents are with their children) did not differ significantly by parents work schedules. This was in contrast to UK research (Barnes et al., 2006) which found that children spend less total time with either parent if one or both work non-standard, rather than standard, hours. Our findings indicate that Australian children spend similar levels of time in the company of their parents notwithstanding variation in work




schedules, but that when non-standard hours are worked, more of this time is with one parent only.

Having time use data from both partners also meant we could investigate how parents non-standard work schedules related to their spouses time. This is an important contribu-tion of the article. We found the relationship to differ very substantially by gender and slightly by weekdays and weekends. For fathers, the amount of time spent in paid and unpaid work activities was largely unaffected by their spouses work schedule. Having a spouse work non-standard hours made little difference to fathers time allocation to paid work, domestic work, childcare time, or the time they were together with children. This suggests that there is no additional overall time burden on Australian fathers when their partner works non-standard hours. Our findings contrast with US findings that fathers do more childcare and spend more time with their children when their spouse works non-standard hours (Nock and Kingston, 1988), but are similar to Hallberg and Klevmarkens (2003) Swedish study and Barnes et al. (2006) in the UK, who found that variations in mothers work schedules had little impact on the time fathers spend with children. It may be that the comparatively high incidence of part-time employment for mothers in Australia and the UK, and shorter average working hours in Sweden (OECD, 2006), mean mothers schedule their work around their family responsibilities, and thus minimize the effects of their paid work on fathers time.

In contrast to total time with children, however, the composition of time spent in chil-drens company did change, with fathers spending significantly more time alone with their children if their spouse worked some non-standard hours rather than only standard hours. Similarly, the multivariate analysis indicated that, all else equal, in dual-earner households when mothers work E/N, there was no increase in fathers childcare activity time in total, but that significantly more of it was spent on routine childcare tasks.

As noted, there is little existing evidence on the impact of fathers working non-stan-dard hours on mothers time use, yet this research suggests this is an area worth further investigation. The analyses showed fathers work schedules had a much more substantial association with mothers time than vice versa. The descriptive analysis showed that both the amount and the composition of mothers time are strongly affected by the work sched-ule of their partner. Mothers whose partner worked non-standard hours at either E/N or W/E spent significantly more time on childcare, routine care and alone in their childrens company, than other mothers. On weekdays, mothers also spent significantly longer on domestic work if their spouse worked some E/N hours, rather than standard hours.

These findings imply that fathers non-standard hours require their spouse to be even more disproportionately responsible for running the household than are other mothers. It lends support to the view that non-standard hours impose unfriendly work schedules on families, and highlights the gendered nature of these effects. As fathers non-standard working hours require their spouse to shoulder a greater burden of domestic work and family care, this may also limit womens workforce participation. Of course, the causal-ity may run the other way, with families in which mothers do no paid work, or short part-time hours, more likely to have men work at non-standard times. However, the mul-tivariate analyses showed that in dual-earner households mothers were also affected when their spouse worked E/N or W/E. Employed mothers spent significantly longer in domestic work, childcare, routine care, in their childrens company and alone with their children if their spouse worked E/N rather than standard hours and significantly longer




on domestic work and alone in their childrens company if their spouse worked W/E rather than standard hours.

These results point to a gendered association between parents work schedules and their spouses time, whereby women, more than men, change their routine, in particular their unpaid work, to fit around the work hours of their spouse. This supports the idea that mothers shoulder greater responsibility than men for managing family time and sug-gests that women are constrained by their spouses work schedules to a much greater extent than men. Maternal non-standard hours may be less disruptive than paternal non-standard hours because women work shorter hours than men and arrange their work around the needs of the family. It is notable that when women themselves worked non-standard hours, decreases in childcare were not as marked as increases in paid work. The organization of most workplaces is still predicated upon a presumed ideal worker who is an individual agent unencumbered by domestic responsibilities (Gornick and Meyers, 2009; Pocock, 2003; Williams, 2001). Fathers are more likely to conform to this expecta-tion than mothers, who as both cause and consequence have primary responsibility for managing the home (Craig, 2007b; Lewis, 2009). Characteristics of the male job thus impact on womens time allocation and opportunities much more than vice versa, and our results show that this is true among parents with non-standard work schedules.

The findings suggest that mothers protect children from missing out on family care and attention whether it is they themselves, or their spouse, who works non-standard hours. As a result, the effect of non-standard hours on the gendered division of labour differs markedly according to whether it is the mother or the father who works them. For households the gendered division of labour is more equitable when mothers work non-standard hours because women themselves do more paid work and less unpaid work, while mens overall time with children stays the same (although, as we have shown, the composition of mens time does change in some respects). Furthermore, the division of labour is most gendered in households where fathers work non-standard hours because women do even more unpaid work and care, while men do even less. The implication of these findings is that non-standard hours do not necessarily help families to balance work and care, as they increase the time burden of paid and unpaid work for women. However, non-standard hours may give mothers the opportunity to work their hours around their partners and their childrens timetables, and thus maximize their paid work time. The implications for maternal time stress and satisfaction with work-family arrangements will be the subject of further research.

Funding Statement

This research was supported under Australian Research Councils Linkage Projects funding scheme (LP0882024).

Acknowledgement

The views expressed are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of the Australian Research Council.

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Appendix

Table A1. Demographic characteristics of dual-earner sample

Couple households with children aged 011 Diary day Mon-Fri Diary day Sat/Sun

Mothers Fathers Mothers FathersSample size (n) 490 490 331 331 % % % %

Works some non-standard hours (E/N or W/E) 21.0 57.8 19.6 37.2Works only standard hours 79.0 42.2 80.4 62.8Works full-time 30.8 95.7 34.4 91.5Works part-time 69.2 4.3 65.6 8.5Employed in professional occupation 35.3 40.8 30.5 38.7Not employed in professional occupation 64.7 59.2 69.5 61.3Has a degree 33.4 27.4 34.3 25.4Does not have a degree 66.6 72.6 65.8 74.6Works long hours (50+) 14.1 38.6 17.5 47.4Does not work long hours 85.9 61.4 82.5 52.6Youngest child aged 04 52.0 45.3Youngest child aged 511 48.0 54.71 child aged 014 in household 28.0 26.92 or more children aged 014 in household 72.0 73.1



290 Work, employment and society 25(2) Ta

ble A2. O

LS regression analysis (du

al-earners only)

Time-diary

completed on a

WEEKDAY

(N = 485)

Mothers time

Fathers time

Paid

work

Dom

estic

work

Childcare

Rou

tine

care

Total in

childrens

company

Alone in

childrens

company

Paid

work

Dom

estic

work

Childcare

Rou

tine

care

Total in

childrens

company

Alone in

childrens

company

Con

stant

253.8***

157.5***

222.0***

143.0***

624.5***

278.9***

387.5***

120.5***

89.6***

42.7***

450.0***

58.6***

Mother works E/N

223.1***

57.6***

52.9***

32.4**

102.6***

41.5

3.6

4.4

7.2

11.4*

24.2

94.6***

Father works E/N

23.4

25.0*

38.3**

26.7**

45.7*

79.8***

179.6***

30.7**

19.7**

14.4***

103.4***

36.2**

Parent works part-tim

e156.8***

73.9***

13.2

4.1

115.5***

99.8***

230.6***

69.5**

58.9***

48.7***

164.5***

156.8***

Parent works lo

ng hou

rs15.9

12.9

2.8

4.1

22.4

22.0

73.9***

29.2**

24.5***

8.7*

52.2**

35.1**

Parent has degree

16.8

13.6

25.0

7.0

41.4

3.2

4.4

4.6

11.5

5.5

31.7

14.0

Parent has professional

occupatio

n42.3

5.0

20.1

2.8

7.3

11.4

21.0

9.4

3.9

3.2

5.8

4.0

Youngest child 511

82.8***

1.4

116.6***

87.6***

206.8***

150.2***

12.1

0.6

39.5***

23.7***

47.1**

2.8

Two or m

ore children

37.5

2.1

11.4

3.5

23.9

12.9

1.5

4.3

18.1*

11.9**

9.9

40.6***

Adjusted R2

0.30

0.12

0.22

0.20

0.27

0.20

0.33

0.07

0.16

0.16

0.16

0.21

Mothers time

Fathers time

Time-diary

completed on a

WEEKEN

D (N=327)

Paid

work

Dom

estic

work

Childcare

Rou

tine

care

Total in

childrens

company

Alone in

childrens

company

Paid

work

Dom

estic

work

Childcare

Rou

tine

care

Total in

childrens

company

Alone in

childrens

company

Con

stant

3.7

253.2***

196.8***

138.9***

810.9***

181.4***

9.8

211.0***

146.8***

88.8***

743.8***

102.8***

Mother works W

/E260.1***

67.9***

53.9**

37.0**

132.6***

60.2*

36.4

0.9

14.0

1.1

6.6

82.1***

Father works W

/E5.8

33.7*

28.1

15.8

38.7

169.7***

371.3***

103.0***

43.2***

20.3*

197.1***

68.5***

Parent works part-tim

e0.7

20.3

1.6

15.8

19.7

37.3

14.8

26.3

18.0

22.9

53.1

31.9

Parent works lo

ng hou

rs14.2

0.8

14.0

8.1

17.2

9.7

36.3*

28.0

17.1

24.1*

118.0***

1.2

Parent has degree

8.3

8.7

17.5

2.1

9.5

3.9

16.2

19.9

1.6

11.1

20.9

13.3

Parent has professional

occupatio

n1.9

5.4

2.2

9.5

30.2

2.0

15.4

11.1

43.7**

18.5

65.2*

1.3

Youngest child 511

3.0

40.8**

125.4***

101.3***

84.0***

0.5

18.0

21.6

81.4***

46.6***

59.9*

16.2

Two or m

ore children

1.9

20.9

56.5***

32.3**

42.5

17.4

12.4

20.0

32.4*

3.3

72.3*

50.0**

Adjusted R2

0.53

0.07

0.22

0.22

0.08

0.14

0.61

0.10

0.18

0.10

0.22

0.09

***p

work employment society 2011 craig 274 91

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