Abstrakt Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur kvinnor upplever arbetsfördelningen mellan könen i hemmet. Vårt mål är att skapa en förståelse samt belysa hur sju unga kvinnor som lever i en samborelation upplever den könsrelaterade fördelningen vad gäller hushållssysslor i de svenska hemmen idag. För att besvara studiens syfte använde vi oss av en kvalitativ metod där vi utgick från hermeneutiken som metodansats. Vi utförde sju semistrukturerade intervjuer, i syfte att fånga upp och beröra kvinnornas upplevelser och erfarenheter. Materialet vi fick ut av intervjuerna analyserades med begrepp som Individualisering (Beck), Första och Andra skiftet (Hochschild), Habitus (Bourdieu) samt Det andra könet (de Beauvoir). Studiens resultat visar att majoriteten av kvinnorna upplever att de utför mer hemarbete än sin partner. Vi kunde utläsa att kvinnorna har utformat olika strategier i syfte att få sin partner att utföra mer hushållssysslor, något som i våra ögon innebär att de får ta rollensom ”projektledare” i många fall. Resultatet indikerar även på att det finns en kluvenhetmellan en ny medvetenhet och gamla förhållanden, vilket hos kvinnorna har skapat såväl nya förväntningar som önskningar på situationen i hemmet. Detta är bland annat ett svar på framväxten av ett mer individualiserat samhälle där jämställdhetsfrågor står allt mer i fokus. / The purpose of this study is to highlight how women experience the division of labour at home between genders. Our goal is to create an understanding as well as illustrate how young women living in a co-relationship experience the gender-related distribution of domestic household chores in Swedish homes today. In order to answer the study's purpose, we used a qualitative method where we went from hermeneutics as a method. We conducted seven semi-structured interviews in order to capture and touch the women's experiences and experiences. The material we received from the interviews was analyzed with concepts such as Individualization (Beck), First and Second Shift (Hochschild), Habitus (Bourdieu) and The Second Sex (de Beauvoir). The study's findings show that the majority of women feel that they are doing more housework than their partner. We could state that women have designed different strategies to make their partners perform more household chores, which in our eyes means that they can take the role of "project manager" in many cases. The result also indicates that there is a gap between a new awareness and old conditions, which in women has created new expectations as well as the wishes of the home situation. This is, among other things, a response to the emergence of a more individualized society where equality issues are increasingly in focus.

<p>This thesis contains four different studies on the dynamics of gender in households and workplaces. The relationship between family life and work life is in focus, particularly in the paper on labour market outcomes after divorce.</p><p>In the introductory chapter, the Swedish context is briefly described. The description focuses on gender differences in the labour market and in the home. Theories concerning the division of work in the household are discussed, as are two theories on labour market discrimination, viz. taste discrimination and statistical discrimination. The theory part is concluded with a discussion of social closure processes and gendered organizational structures.</p><p><i>The Reproduction of Gender. Housework and Attitudes Towards Gender Equality in the Home Among Swedish Boys and Girls.</i> The housework boys and girls age 10 to 18 do, and their attitudes towards gender equality in the home are studied. One aim is to see whether the work children do is gendered and if so, whether they follow their parents’, often gendered, pattern in housework. A second aim is to see whether parents’ division of work is related to the children’s attitude towards gender equality in the home. The data used are taken from the Swedish Child Level of Living Survey (Child-LNU) 2000. Results indicate that girls and boys in two-parent families are more prone to engage in gender-atypical work the more their parent of the same sex engages in this kind of work. The fact that girls still do more housework than boys indicates that housework is gendered work also among children. No relation between parents’ division of work and the child’s attitude towards gender equality in the home was found. </p><p><i>Dependence within Families and the Household Division of Labor – A Comparison between Sweden and the United States.</i> This paper assesses the relative explanatory value of the resource-bargaining perspective and the doing-gender approach in analysing the division of housework in the United States and Sweden from the mid-1970s to 2000. Data from the Swedish Level of Living Survey (LNU) and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) were used. Overall results indicate that housework is truly gendered work in both countries during the entire period. Even so, the results also indicate that gender deviance neutralization is more pronounced in the United States than in Sweden. Unlike Swedish women, American women seem to increase their time spent in housework when their husbands are to some extent economically dependent on them, as if to neutralize the presumed gender deviance.</p><p><i>Divorce and Labour Market Outcomes. Do Women Suffer or Gain?</i> In this paper, the interconnected nature of work and family is studied by looking at labour market outcomes after divorce. The data used are retrospective work and family histories collected in LNU 1991. A hazard regression model with competing risks reveals that women’s chances of improving their occupational prestige appear to be better after divorce compared to before. Increased working hours and perhaps also increased energy invested in the job may pay off in better occupational opportunities. Worth noting, however, is that the outcome among women with a less firm labour market attachment is more often to a job of lower prestige than one of higher prestige. Hence, the labour market outcome for women after divorce is to some extent conditioned by their labour market attachment at the time of divorce. Men, on the other hand, in most cases seem to suffer occupationally from divorce. For separated men the risk of negative changes in occupational prestige is greater than for cohabiting men.</p><p><i>Formal On-the-job Training. A Gender-Typed Experience and Wage- Related Advantage?</i> Formal on-the-job training (FOJT) can have a positive impact on wages and on promotion opportunities. According to theory and earlier research, a two-step model of gender inequality in FOJT is predicted: First, women are less likely than men to take part in FOJT and, second, once women do get the more remunerative training, they are not rewarded for their new skills to the same extent as men are. Pooled cross-sectional data from the Swedish Survey of Living Conditions (ULF) in the mid-nineties were used. Results show that women are significantly less likely than men to take part in FOJT. Among those who do receive training, women are more likely to take part in industry-specific training, whereas men are more likely to participate in general training and training that increases promotion opportunities. The two latter forms of training significantly raise a man’s annual earnings but not a woman’s. Hence, the theoretical model is supported and it is argued that this gender inequality is partly due to employers’ discriminatory practices.</p>

This thesis contains four different studies on the dynamics of gender in households and workplaces. The relationship between family life and work life is in focus, particularly in the paper on labour market outcomes after divorce. In the introductory chapter, the Swedish context is briefly described. The description focuses on gender differences in the labour market and in the home. Theories concerning the division of work in the household are discussed, as are two theories on labour market discrimination, viz. taste discrimination and statistical discrimination. The theory part is concluded with a discussion of social closure processes and gendered organizational structures. The Reproduction of Gender. Housework and Attitudes Towards Gender Equality in the Home Among Swedish Boys and Girls. The housework boys and girls age 10 to 18 do, and their attitudes towards gender equality in the home are studied. One aim is to see whether the work children do is gendered and if so, whether they follow their parents’, often gendered, pattern in housework. A second aim is to see whether parents’ division of work is related to the children’s attitude towards gender equality in the home. The data used are taken from the Swedish Child Level of Living Survey (Child-LNU) 2000. Results indicate that girls and boys in two-parent families are more prone to engage in gender-atypical work the more their parent of the same sex engages in this kind of work. The fact that girls still do more housework than boys indicates that housework is gendered work also among children. No relation between parents’ division of work and the child’s attitude towards gender equality in the home was found. Dependence within Families and the Household Division of Labor – A Comparison between Sweden and the United States. This paper assesses the relative explanatory value of the resource-bargaining perspective and the doing-gender approach in analysing the division of housework in the United States and Sweden from the mid-1970s to 2000. Data from the Swedish Level of Living Survey (LNU) and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) were used. Overall results indicate that housework is truly gendered work in both countries during the entire period. Even so, the results also indicate that gender deviance neutralization is more pronounced in the United States than in Sweden. Unlike Swedish women, American women seem to increase their time spent in housework when their husbands are to some extent economically dependent on them, as if to neutralize the presumed gender deviance. Divorce and Labour Market Outcomes. Do Women Suffer or Gain? In this paper, the interconnected nature of work and family is studied by looking at labour market outcomes after divorce. The data used are retrospective work and family histories collected in LNU 1991. A hazard regression model with competing risks reveals that women’s chances of improving their occupational prestige appear to be better after divorce compared to before. Increased working hours and perhaps also increased energy invested in the job may pay off in better occupational opportunities. Worth noting, however, is that the outcome among women with a less firm labour market attachment is more often to a job of lower prestige than one of higher prestige. Hence, the labour market outcome for women after divorce is to some extent conditioned by their labour market attachment at the time of divorce. Men, on the other hand, in most cases seem to suffer occupationally from divorce. For separated men the risk of negative changes in occupational prestige is greater than for cohabiting men. Formal On-the-job Training. A Gender-Typed Experience and Wage- Related Advantage? Formal on-the-job training (FOJT) can have a positive impact on wages and on promotion opportunities. According to theory and earlier research, a two-step model of gender inequality in FOJT is predicted: First, women are less likely than men to take part in FOJT and, second, once women do get the more remunerative training, they are not rewarded for their new skills to the same extent as men are. Pooled cross-sectional data from the Swedish Survey of Living Conditions (ULF) in the mid-nineties were used. Results show that women are significantly less likely than men to take part in FOJT. Among those who do receive training, women are more likely to take part in industry-specific training, whereas men are more likely to participate in general training and training that increases promotion opportunities. The two latter forms of training significantly raise a man’s annual earnings but not a woman’s. Hence, the theoretical model is supported and it is argued that this gender inequality is partly due to employers’ discriminatory practices.

This thesis explores women's learning in unpaid household work through the lenses of impairment and disability. Informal learning from this standpoint is a perspective that is not yet integrated into the adult learning literature. The impetus for the study came from dissatisfaction with the social undervaluing of unpaid housework and carework, and the largely unrecognized learning behind the work, which is predominantly done by women. Disability and impairment provide unique lenses for making visible what people learn and how they learn in this context. Those who have or acquire impairment in adulthood need to learn how to do things differently. For this study I have taken a segment of data from a 4-year, 4-phase project on Unpaid Housework and Lifelong Learning in which I participated. The participants in this segment are women and men with disabilities who took part in 2 focus groups (11 women), an on-line focus group (20 women), and individual interviews (10 women and 5 men). Learning is explored through three different themes: first, learning related to self-care; second, learning to accept the impaired body; and third, strategies and resources used in the learning process. Analysis of the data shows that the learning that happens through unpaid household work is multidimensional, fluid, and diverse. Learning is accomplished through a complex 4-dimensional process involving a blend of the body, mind, emotions, and the spiritual self. Furthermore, what participants learned and how they learned is influenced by the sociocultural context in which it takes place. Learning, when seen as a 4-dimensional process, provides a framework for challenging traditional Western cultural beliefs about what counts as learning and knowledge. Such beliefs have cultivated the viewpoint that learning is individualistic, cognitive, and based on reason. I contest these beliefs by disrupting the binaries that support them (e.g., mind vs. body, reason vs. emotion). Participants used both sides of the binaries in their learning processes, negating the oppositional and hierarchical categories they establish. The concepts in the binaries still exist but the relationship between them is not oppositional, nor is one concept privileged over another, either within or across binaries.

This thesis explores women's learning in unpaid household work through the lenses of impairment and disability. Informal learning from this standpoint is a perspective that is not yet integrated into the adult learning literature. The impetus for the study came from dissatisfaction with the social undervaluing of unpaid housework and carework, and the largely unrecognized learning behind the work, which is predominantly done by women. Disability and impairment provide unique lenses for making visible what people learn and how they learn in this context. Those who have or acquire impairment in adulthood need to learn how to do things differently. For this study I have taken a segment of data from a 4-year, 4-phase project on Unpaid Housework and Lifelong Learning in which I participated. The participants in this segment are women and men with disabilities who took part in 2 focus groups (11 women), an on-line focus group (20 women), and individual interviews (10 women and 5 men). Learning is explored through three different themes: first, learning related to self-care; second, learning to accept the impaired body; and third, strategies and resources used in the learning process. Analysis of the data shows that the learning that happens through unpaid household work is multidimensional, fluid, and diverse. Learning is accomplished through a complex 4-dimensional process involving a blend of the body, mind, emotions, and the spiritual self. Furthermore, what participants learned and how they learned is influenced by the sociocultural context in which it takes place. Learning, when seen as a 4-dimensional process, provides a framework for challenging traditional Western cultural beliefs about what counts as learning and knowledge. Such beliefs have cultivated the viewpoint that learning is individualistic, cognitive, and based on reason. I contest these beliefs by disrupting the binaries that support them (e.g., mind vs. body, reason vs. emotion). Participants used both sides of the binaries in their learning processes, negating the oppositional and hierarchical categories they establish. The concepts in the binaries still exist but the relationship between them is not oppositional, nor is one concept privileged over another, either within or across binaries.

For decades, the man has been seen as the ideal of the role of the main breadwinner and the woman as the nurturing carer. As women become more educated, this leads to more females becoming breadwinners. Thus, being the main breadwinner as a woman is still a norm-breaking role today, but one that is likely to become increasingly common in the future. The aim of the study is thus to gain an understanding of the division of unpaid labour as these women may be considered norm-breakers. Furthermore, we want to reach an understanding of how/ if these women experience conflict when it comes to the role of primary breadwinner and her role as a mother. This qualitative study is based on interviews with female breadwinners who work full-time and are mothers. The theoretical framework of the study consists of Berger and Luckmann's theory of socialization, West and Zimmerman's theory of Doing Gender, the Doing Family theory by David Morgan, and the work-family conflict by Greenhaus and Beutell. The results of the study suggest that the women experience a conflict between their roles as mothers as well as working women. It also shows that women have different perceptions of equality in the home and the distribution of unpaid work. / Mannen har länge ansetts vara idealet för rollen som den huvudsakliga familjeförsörjaren och kvinnan som den omhändertagande omsorgstagaren. I takt med att kvinnor utbildar sig i allt högre utsträckning leder det till att allt fler kvinnor blir familjeförsörjare. Att vara den huvudsakliga familjeförsörjaren som kvinna är således än idag en normbrytande roll men som förmodligen kommer att bli allt mer vanligt förekommande i framtiden. Syftet med studien är således att nå en förståelse för hur uppdelningen av det obetalda arbetet ser ut då dessa kvinnor kan anses vara normbrytande. Vi söker dessutom att nå en förståelse för hur/om dessa kvinnor upplever en konflikt när det kommer till rollen som huvudsaklig familjeförsörjare och hennes roll som mamma. Denna kvalitativa studie baserar sitt resultat utifrån intervjuer med kvinnliga familjeförsörjare som är heltidsarbetande och mammor. Studiens teoretiska ramverk består Berger och Luckmanns teori om socialisation, West och Zimmermans teori Doing Gender, teorin Doing Family av David Morgan samt Work- family conflict av Greenhaus och Beutell. Studiens resultat tyder på att kvinnorna upplever en konflikt mellan sin roll som mamma såväl som huvudsaklig familjeförsörjare. Det framkommer även att upplevelsen av uppdelningen av hushållsarbetet anses vara ojämnt fördelat i olika mån.

The question of working hours, their length and allocation engages workers around the world. Today we see an increasing flexibility in the working life and an increasing interest regarding the question of working hours. Being able to balance work-family life is universally accepted to be a challenge for living a sustainable life. Previous research regarding a shortened working week indicates that shorter working hours increase well-being and reduce stress. The aim of this study is to create an understanding for the puzzling everyday life of families and for the extent to which men and women believe that a four-day work week could ease their everyday challenges. The aim of the investigation is to focus on the allocation of household work between men and women, thus if these opinions and experiences differ between men and women. The purpose is to create an understanding of how the individual demands and expectations within family-life differ depending on gender. In this study, twelve qualitative interviews with six women and six men were carried out to compare their feelings, opinions, and reflections regarding a four-day work week. The result shows that most men and women are positive to the idea of a four-day work week: women to a somewhat greater extent than men. It also shows that women would use their free day to do household chores to a greater extent than men, who would to a greater degree prioritize their own activities for free time and hobbies. The results raise important questions regarding the allocation of household chores in families. / Diskussionerna om arbetstiden, dess längd och förläggning engagerar medarbetare världen över. Idag ser vi en ökad flexibilisering i arbetslivet och ett växande intresse kring frågan om arbetstid. Att kunna balansera familje-och arbetsliv är en universell utmaning för att kunna leva ett hållbart liv. Tidigare forskning om förkortad arbetsvecka visar att minskad arbetstid leder till ökat välmående och minskad stress. I denna studie undersöks hur livspusslet ter sig för familjer och i vilken utsträckning män och kvinnor tror att en fyra dagars arbetsvecka skulle förändra vardagslivet. Undersökningen ämnar fokusera på fördelning av hushållsarbete mellan könen genom att undersöka hur åsikter och erfarenheter skiljer sig åt mellan kvinnor och män. Syftet är att skapa en förståelse för hur individuella krav och förväntningar i familjelivet skiljer sig åt beroende på kön. I studien genomförs tolv kvalitativa intervjuer med sex kvinnor och sex män där fokus ligger på att jämföra deras känslor, åsikter och reflektioner kring en fyra dagars arbetsvecka. Resultaten visar att majoriteten av män och kvinnor är positiva till idén om genomförandet av en fyra dagars arbetsvecka, kvinnor i något större omfattning än män. Det visar även att kvinnor skulle använda sin lediga dag till att göra hushållsarbete i högre utsträckning än män, som till större grad skulle prioritera egna aktiviteter och hobbys. Resultaten lyfter viktiga frågor om upplevelser av fördelningen av hushållsarbete inom familjer.

Literature on lifelong learning indicates that major life transitions lead to significant learning. However, compared to learning in paid jobs, learning in and through household work has received little attention, given the unpaid nature and the private sphere where the learning occurs. The current study examined the changes and the learning involved in three aspects of household work: food work, childcare/parenting, and emotion work among recent Chinese immigrants in Canada. This study draws on data from a Canadian Survey on Work and Lifelong Learning (WALL), 20 individual interviews, a focus group, and a discussion group with new Chinese professional immigrants in the Greater Toronto Area. The results indicate that food work and childcare increased dramatically after immigration due to a sudden decline of economic resources and the lack of social support network for childcare. Emotion work intensified due to the challenges in paid jobs and the absence of extended families in the new homeland. To adapt to the changes in their social and economic situations, and to integrate into the Canadian society, Chinese immigrants learned new beliefs and practices about food and childrearing, developed new knowledge and skills in cooking and grocery shopping, in childcare and disciplining, in solving conflicts with children and spouses, and in transnational kin maintenance. In addition, the Chinese immigrants also developed new views about family, paid and unpaid work, meaning of life, and new gender and ethnic identities. However, these dramatic changes did not shatter the gendered division of household work. Both the qualitative and the quantitative data suggest that women not only do more but also different types of household tasks. As a result, it is not surprising that both the content and the ways of learning associated with household work varied by gender, class, and ethnicity. By exploring learning involved in the four dimensions of household work: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual, this dissertation demonstrates that learning is both lifelong and lifewide. By making household work visible, this research helps make visible the value of the unpaid work and the learning involved in it.

Literature on lifelong learning indicates that major life transitions lead to significant learning. However, compared to learning in paid jobs, learning in and through household work has received little attention, given the unpaid nature and the private sphere where the learning occurs. The current study examined the changes and the learning involved in three aspects of household work: food work, childcare/parenting, and emotion work among recent Chinese immigrants in Canada. This study draws on data from a Canadian Survey on Work and Lifelong Learning (WALL), 20 individual interviews, a focus group, and a discussion group with new Chinese professional immigrants in the Greater Toronto Area. The results indicate that food work and childcare increased dramatically after immigration due to a sudden decline of economic resources and the lack of social support network for childcare. Emotion work intensified due to the challenges in paid jobs and the absence of extended families in the new homeland. To adapt to the changes in their social and economic situations, and to integrate into the Canadian society, Chinese immigrants learned new beliefs and practices about food and childrearing, developed new knowledge and skills in cooking and grocery shopping, in childcare and disciplining, in solving conflicts with children and spouses, and in transnational kin maintenance. In addition, the Chinese immigrants also developed new views about family, paid and unpaid work, meaning of life, and new gender and ethnic identities. However, these dramatic changes did not shatter the gendered division of household work. Both the qualitative and the quantitative data suggest that women not only do more but also different types of household tasks. As a result, it is not surprising that both the content and the ways of learning associated with household work varied by gender, class, and ethnicity. By exploring learning involved in the four dimensions of household work: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual, this dissertation demonstrates that learning is both lifelong and lifewide. By making household work visible, this research helps make visible the value of the unpaid work and the learning involved in it.

The dissertation studies how 16 Swedish middle-class parents understand and form their parenthood in everyday life. The focus is set on how they involve themselves in their children’s care and education, and how parental identities are negotiated in relation to cultural norms on parenthood. The analysis is based on qualitative methods, in particular interviews and participant observation with video camera in eight families. The study, which is inspired by poststructuralist perspectives on identity formation, shows that the informants position themselves in relation to a norm on involved parenthood, which is negotiated differently depending on social context and gender. The dissertation includes four empirical studies. The first focuses on the subjectivities and dilemmas that are created by parents’ strategies to manage time and childcare. The strategies render everyday life more effective, but the parents also want to be child-centered, which forces them to balance between positions as involved and uninvolved parents. The second study examines how the fathers negotiate their involvement in household work, childcare and time with children. To great extent, they follow the discourse on gender-equal and involved fatherhood, but they at times resist it through drawing on notions of child-centeredness, kinship, and a gendered division of labor. The third study focuses on how parents and teachers negotiate children’s education and rearing. Study four shows how the parents position themselves as involved parents in relation to their children’s homework. In conclusion, the dissertation shows that the parents idealize time spent with the children, but that in everyday life it is hard to get this time. Instead, much time is spent for the child, that is, doing household work and childcare. In both cases, time is child-centered, but time with the child is by the parents seen as “more” involved time. / Avhandlingen studerar hur 16 svenska medelklassföräldrar förstår och utformar sitt föräldraskap i vardagen. Särskilt fokuseras på hur de engagerar sig i sina barns omsorg och skolgång, samt hur föräldraidentiteter förhandlas i relation till kulturella normer kring föräldraskap. Analyserna är baserade på kvalitativa metoder, med intervjuer och deltagande observation med videokamera i åtta familjer. Studien, som är inspirerad av poststrukturalistiska perspektiv på identitet, visar att informanterna positionerar sig i relation till en norm om engagerat föräldraskap. Denna förhandlas dock i relation till kön och social kontext. Avhandlingen omfattar fyra delstudier. Den första fokuserar på de subjektiviteter och dilemman som skapas av föräldrarnas strategier för att hantera tid och barnomsorg. Strategierna effektiviserar vardagen, men föräldrarna vill samtidigt vara barncentrerade, vilket gör att de måste balansera mellan positioner som engagerade och icke-engagerade föräldrar. Den andra delstudien undersöker hur männen förhandlar sitt engagemang i hushållsarbete, barnomsorg och tid med barnen. De följer till stora delar den samhälleliga diskursen om jämställt och engagerat faderskap, men omdefinierar den genom att dra på föreställningar om barncentrering, släktskap och könsarbetsdelning. I den tredje studien undersöks hur föräldrar och lärare förhandlar om barns utbildning och fostran. Delstudie fyra visar hur föräldrarna positionerar sig som engagerade föräldrar i förhållande till sina barns läxor. Avhandlingen visar sammanfattningsvis att föräldrarna idealiserar tid som spenderas med barnen, men att det i vardagslivet är svårt att få denna tid. Istället ägnas mycket tid för barnet, det vill säga hushållsarbete och barnomsorg. I båda handlar det om barncentrering, men föräldrarna uppfattar tid med barnet som ”mer” engagerad tid.