Recently, the co-authored paper Narrowing or widening the gender gap in market and domestic work? The impact of workweek reduction reform in China by Assistant Researcher Zhang Huili from the Department of Labor Economics, School of Economics, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, has been published online in Journal of Development Economics, a top-tier international economics journal.
Abstract
We investigate whether shorter working hours can narrow the gender gap in market and domestic work by examining the impact of China's workweek reduction policy. We find that the policy deepened the gender division of labor within dual-employee households, resulting in women further leaning toward familial roles. Specifically, women allocated more time to childcare and other household chores, while men withdrew from these domestic duties, worked longer hours beyond the designated schedule, and pursued higher education. This shift contributed to improved income and career advancement for men, whereas women did not experience similar improvements. The impact of this polarized gender division of labor was particularly pronounced in households with higher demands for domestic product consumption or with higher male-female wage ratios prior to the reform. Our analysis demonstrates that under the shortened working hours system, families' optimization behavior manifests as a deepened household specialization aimed at maximizing household consumption, suggesting that the reduction in working hours may exacerbate labor market gender inequality.
About the Author
Zhang Huili received her PhD in Economics from Renmin University of China. She is currently Assistant Researcher in the Department of Labor Economics at the School of Economics, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. Her main research fields are labor economics and development economics. Her papers have been published in domestic and international journals including Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Comparative Economics, Econometrics Journal and Insurance Studies.
