Household Labor Across the Urban–Rural Divide
Gendered Patterns of Domestic Work in Canada
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19216332 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Laura Wright (0000-0003-3082-0184, University of Saskatchewan, corresponding author), Shayla Batty (University of Saskatchewan) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 91 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Publication date | 2026-06-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Rural Sociology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0036-0112 • E-ISSN: 1549-0831 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/ruso.70054 |
| OpenAlex | W7163215776 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 41 |
The persistence of gendered divisions of household labor has been well documented, but comparatively little attention has been given to how these divisions vary between urban and rural contexts. Rural households are embedded in distinct social, economic, and cultural settings that may reinforce or reshape domestic arrangements. Using nationally representative data from the Canadian General Social Survey, this study examines gender differences in time spent on household chores across urban and rural areas. We distinguish between routine tasks, such as cooking and cleaning, and nonroutine tasks, such as household repairs and yard work. Findings indicate that women continue to perform substantially more unpaid labor than men regardless of place of residence. However, the gender gap is larger in rural contexts, driven by both rural men's lower engagement in routine chores and rural women's higher total time in domestic work compared to their urban counterparts. These results suggest that rural residence amplifies traditional gendered patterns of labor. By situating unpaid household labor within an urban–rural framework, this study highlights how place remains a key axis of inequality in family life and underscores the ways that geographic context intersects with gender to structure everyday practices within households
Context (archaeology) · Domestic work · Inequality · Life course approach · Residence · Rural area · Unpaid work · Work (physics) · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics · Rural development and sustainability · Work-Family Balance Challenges
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| Highly cited | No |
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