Australian mothering in cross-national perspective: Time allocation, gender gaps, scheduling and subjective time pressure

Abstract

Motherhood brings significant change in the way women spend and experience their time. Having children is an intensely personal experience. Yet, much of the practical impact upon mothers’ time is shaped by the social organisation of work and care, which means the daily demands of parenting and child-raising vary over time and place. This chapter uses nationally representative time use surveys from four countries (Australia, Finland, Korea and Spain) to compare parents’ overall workloads when paid and unpaid work is scheduled over the day and week, gender divisions of work and care and the subjective time pressure associated with transitions to parenthood. It discusses how the findings relate to family policy, national work time regimes and social attitudes towards gender roles, mothering and fatherhood.