"When men devote more time to household chores, it does not necessarily reduce the burden on women, because it is usually in tasks that both men and women do together. Javier García Manglano, researcher of the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS) of the University of Navarra, summarizes one of the conclusions of a scientific article published together with Alexandra Killewald, of Harvard University (USA).

The work addresses the consequences of parenthood on the time use, occupation, and wages of more than 1,400 American couples who had their first child between 1984 and 2013. It was one of five finalists for the 2017award Kanter, an international award awarded by the Center for Families at Purdue University, and the Center for work and Family at Boston University (USA). This edition's finalists were selected from among 2,500 papers published in 65 English-language journals worldwide.

The study reveals that, after maternity, women reduce their professional dedication by about ten hours per week and increase their household chores by six hours (not counting those dedicated to caring for the baby). In addition, their salaries are reduced by around 13%. In contrast, the change experienced by most men after paternity is much smaller: their dedication to household chores increases by one hour per week and their professional dedication and salary remain constant.

Double shift: working at home and in the office

agreement According to the researchers, the distribution of household tasks has been explained until now by the theory of specialization, which states that each member focuses on the function for which they have a comparative advantage: traditionally, men focused on earning money, and women on taking care of the household.

In their study, García Manglano and Killewald propose a new concept, "tetheredautonomy". "Women can be said to be autonomous because there is great variability in their responses to childbearing: some barely reduce their professional dedication, while others reduce it to a great extent; surprisingly, this does not depend on what their partner does," stresses García Manglano.

"The man -she adds- hardly changes his dedication to being a father, and when he lends a hand, he does it mostly with, not instead of, the woman. That is why the autonomy of mothers is tied, conditioned by the lack of support from the father".

The ICS researcher warns that "most mothers want to combine work and family, but sometimes the burden is too great. When they try to 'get to everything' and that motherhood does not affect their work environment, they fall into what is called the double shift , which is like having two jobs: a profession during the day and taking care of the children when they return home".

"The result is the opposite of what was intended: a strong feeling of not getting to everything, which produces stress B", she stresses. To avoid this, she suggests that "it is important that the man's contribution in the home be focused on tasks that provide real relief from the woman's burden."