The Gendered Division of Labour: Why It Still Persists Today

When you look around your household, workplace, or community, you’ll notice a clear pattern: certain tasks tend to be assigned to men and others to women. This isn’t random. It’s the result of the gendered division of labour, a system where work is distributed based on gender rather than individual skills or preferences. Despite decades of progress toward equality, this division remains deeply embedded in societies worldwide, affecting everything from career opportunities to economic growth.

How traditional gender roles shape work and labour 🔗

The way societies divide work between men and women is based on socially-established gender roles rather than natural abilities. In many societies, the breadwinner-homemaker model has been a stable characteristic, with men expected to engage in paid employment outside the home while women handle domestic tasks and caregiving.

This division is especially pronounced in certain fields. Work outside the home, dangerous jobs, and technical disciplines like STEM are more likely to be done by men, while work related to care and interpersonal relations is generally done by women. In agriculture, women often work as unpaid family laborers while men control land ownership and access to resources.

Women still perform the majority of housework even when they participate in paid employment. The situation intensifies after parenthood. Following the birth of a first child, women invest more in domestic work and less in market work, creating a divergence in earnings and career trajectories between mothers and fathers.

The burden becomes even heavier when combining both spheres. After childbirth, women do more than 2 additional hours of work per day compared to an additional 40 minutes for men. This combined responsibility leaves women with limited time for education, rest, or leisure activities.

Economic disadvantages from gendered labour divisions 🔗

The economic consequences of the gendered division of labour are significant, particularly in developing countries. Women globally do 4.4 hours of unpaid work on average per day, while men only do 1.7 hours. This gap varies dramatically by country, with some places showing extreme disparities.

Unpaid care and domestic work is valued at between 10 and 39 percent of GDP and can contribute more to the economy than manufacturing, commerce, or transportation sectors. Yet this work remains largely invisible in economic measurements and policy discussions.

Women’s disproportionate unpaid work burden directly limits their economic opportunities. In countries where women average five or more hours per day on unpaid work, at most 50 percent are employed or seeking formal-sector employment. This creates a cycle where women miss out on income, career advancement, and skill development.

In developing economies, the challenges multiply. Women spend 200 million hours per day worldwide fetching water, while in India, women spend more than an hour daily collecting firewood. These physically demanding tasks prevent participation in education or paid employment.

The motherhood penalty and wage gaps 🔗

When women do participate in paid employment, they face significant economic penalties. Women bear most of the earnings penalty that comes from becoming a parent. Research shows that childbirth causes a large and persistent drop in women’s earnings while remaining fairly neutral for men’s careers.

This motherhood penalty extends beyond immediate income loss. Women who take extended leave or reduce their working hours face long-term salary impacts and reduced career progression. Meanwhile, their domestic responsibilities often force them into part-time work or jobs with family-friendly conditions that offer less career advancement.

Women perform 75 percent of the world’s unpaid work, effectively subsidizing the global economy. By keeping women in low-productivity tasks at home instead of utilizing their full potential in the marketplace, economies miss out on significant growth opportunities. Global GDP could increase 26 percent by closing the gaps between women and men in the workforce.

Policies and actions to promote workplace equality 🔗

Addressing the gendered division of labour requires coordinated policy interventions at multiple levels. Evidence shows that certain approaches can effectively reduce inequality in both paid and unpaid work environments.

Infrastructure and services in developing countries 🔗

In developing economies, measures to improve water supply, sanitation, electricity, and transportation are critical to free women from low-productivity tasks. Better access to these services has helped boost female labor force participation in countries like Mexico and Brazil. Expanding internet access can help women take advantage of flexible work arrangements and the gig economy.

Investment in time-saving technology makes a measurable difference. Clean cooking for all would save more than 100 billion hours per year of women collecting and hauling fuelwood, freeing time for economic opportunities while reducing household air pollution and preventing premature deaths.

Parental leave policies that promote equality 🔗

Parental leave design plays a crucial role in gender equality outcomes. Long maternity leave hampers women’s reentrance in the labour market and tends to decrease their human capital, whereas short leave facilitates women’s return. The key is creating policies that encourage fathers to take leave.

Iceland’s parental leave policy sets the length at nine months and earmarks three for each parent, creating incentives for shared responsibility. Sweden ranks highest for gender equality in parental leave policies, followed by Finland, Greece, and Norway.

Research indicates that when fathers use parental leave, mothers who share care responsibilities can more easily develop their careers. The benefits extend to men as well, improving their physical, mental, and sexual health while strengthening relationships with their children.

Childcare support and workplace flexibility 🔗

Access to affordable childcare is essential for women’s economic participation. Expanding access to childcare tends to increase women’s participation in the labor force by about 1 percentage point initially, with this impact doubling over five years. Nordic countries invest heavily in early childhood education and care, enabling high enrollment and supporting women’s return to work after childbirth.

Employer-provided support makes a significant difference. Mothers in firms with childcare support are 10 percent more likely to return to work after childbirth, and the child penalty is reduced by over 10 percent, helping mothers maintain stronger career trajectories.

Work-family policies like paid parental leave and flexible work arrangements are associated with reduced gender inequalities in childcare time. These policies provide both available time and direct exposure to childcare tasks, helping close gender gaps in the division of domestic responsibilities.

Broader systemic changes 🔗

Policy interventions work best when combined. Governments need to ensure access to education and healthcare for women, as human capital limitations severely restrict labor market possibilities. Legal reforms that enshrine women’s rights can help reshape social institutions and values that prevent equal participation.

Flexible labor markets with active policies facilitate job matching and better work-life balance. However, achieving true equality requires addressing cultural norms and employer expectations. Workers are often stigmatized for using family-friendly policies, and this stigma creates barriers even when formal policies exist.

The path forward requires redistributing unpaid work between genders while reducing the overall burden through infrastructure, services, and technology. It also demands policies that promote shared responsibility for care work and create more paid jobs in the care economy. These changes benefit not just women but entire economies through increased productivity and stronger workforce participation.

What do you think? How might your own workplace or community better distribute both paid and unpaid work between genders? What barriers prevent men from taking equal responsibility for domestic and care work in your context?

References

1. https://archive.unescwa.org/gender-division-labour
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_division_of_labour
3. https://commons.trincoll.edu/economicsofgender/2023/12/12/gender-dynamics-and-the-division-of-household-labor/
4. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4584401/
5. https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2019/10/15/blog-the-economic-cost-of-devaluing-women-work
6. https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/csw61/redistribute-unpaid-work
7. https://oecd-development-matters.org/2019/03/18/why-you-should-care-about-unpaid-care-work/
8. https://www.economicsobservatory.com/what-explains-the-gender-division-of-labour-and-how-can-it-be-redressed
9. https://www.cfr.org/womens-participation-in-global-economy/
10. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/20508840.2020.1830565
11. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-international-and-comparative-social-policy/article/assessing-gender-equality-in-childcare-leave-policies-and-in-the-labour-market-a-comparative-analysis-across-21-countries/689B750938306669B9B20AA1637A9989
12. https://www.undp.org/latin-america/blog/missing-piece-valuing-womens-unrecognized-contribution-economy
13. https://www.qmul.ac.uk/media/news/2025/humanities-and-social-sciences/hss/workplace-childcare-key-to-closing-gender-gaps-says-queen-mary-economist.html
14. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/23780231221142677
15. https://genderpolicyreport.umn.edu/paid-leave-policy-design-matters-for-workplace-equality/