Extra Domestic Work and Gender Family Relations in Mexico: A Theme Revisited

Brígida García, El Colegio de México
Orlandina de Oliveira, El Colegio de México

The analysis of the effect of women's non domestic work on gender family relations does not always lead to consistent positive findings. At least in the case of Mexico it has been often argued that this is due to the complexity and multidimensional character of this relationship, as well as to insufficient data availability, especially for population-based studies. In this paper we pursue to respond to these different issues by analyzing recent data recollected for 2 532 women in metropolitan areas of Mexico. We take into consideration various aspects of women's labor force participation and different dimensions of gender relations in the family (such as husband's participation in domestic tasks and child care). Regression results demonstrate that women's work experience (number of years worked after marriage) is the only variable that significantly predicts the presence of more egalitarian gender relations controlling by an important number of socioeconomic and demographic characteristics.