What Do We Learn About Gender by Analyzing Housework Separately From Child Care? Some Considerations From Time‐Use Evidence

This article presents an overview of the gendered distinctions between housework and child care, illustrating those distinctions through time‐use diary research. Following the logic of the gender structure perspective, I discuss findings that demonstrate differences between the gendered performance of housework and child care at the individual, institutional, and interactional levels of the gender structure. I show that distinguishing between housework and child care at these different levels of analysis aids in developing a more nuanced appreciation of the processes that underpin the gender division of domestic work and care, and I argue that these distinctions have important implications for gender theory and policy .