Gendered Housework Among Adolescents in India

Abstract

Although an in-depth body of literature has explored the gendered lives of children in India, little is known about adolescents. Utilizing 24-hour time diary data from South India, this study examined how girls’ ( n = 554) and boys’ ( n = 577) engagement in housework varied by parents’ gender ideology. Findings show that adolescent girls with egalitarian parents do significantly less housework than girls with less egalitarian parents. At first glance, these findings support socialization theory—that what parents think translates into what adolescents do. However, boys do very little housework, regardless of parents’ gender attitudes. These differing findings are consistent with the idea of a stalled gender revolution and illustrate that socialization theory is not gender neutral.