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Hour-glass ceilings: Work-hour thresholds, gendered health inequities

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  • Dinh, Huong
  • Strazdins, Lyndall
  • Welsh, Jennifer
Abstract
Long workhours erode health, which the setting of maximum weekly hours aims to avert. This 48-h limit, and the evidence base to support it, has evolved from a workforce that was largely male, whose time in the labour force was enabled by women's domestic work and care giving. The gender composition of the workforce has now changed, and many women (as well as some men) combine care-giving with paid work, a change viewed as fundamental for gender equality. However, it raises questions on the suitability of the work time limit and the extent it is protective of health. We estimate workhour–mental health thresholds, testing if they vary for men and women due to gendered workloads and constraints on and off the job. Using six waves of data from a nationally representative sample of Australian adults (24–65 years), surveyed in the Household Income Labour Dynamics of Australia Survey (N = 3828 men; 4062 women), our study uses a longitudinal, simultaneous equation approach to address endogeneity. Averaging over the sample, we find an overall threshold of 39 h per week beyond which mental health declines. Separate curves then estimate thresholds for men and women, by high or low care and domestic time constraints, using stratified and pooled samples. We find gendered workhour-health limits (43.5 for men, 38 for women) which widen further once differences in resources on and off the job are considered. Only when time is ‘unencumbered’ and similar time constraints and contexts are assumed, do gender gaps narrow and thresholds approximate the 48-h limit. Our study reveals limits to contemporary workhour regulation which may be systematically disadvantaging women's health.

Suggested Citation

  • Dinh, Huong & Strazdins, Lyndall & Welsh, Jennifer, 2017. "Hour-glass ceilings: Work-hour thresholds, gendered health inequities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 42-51.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:176:y:2017:i:c:p:42-51
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.01.024
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    2. Senhu Wang & Wanying Ling & Zhuofei Lu & Yuewei Wei & Min Li & Ling Gao, 2022. "Can Volunteering Buffer the Negative Impacts of Unemployment and Economic Inactivity on Mental Health? Longitudinal Evidence from the United Kingdom," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-12, June.
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    4. Ervin, Jennifer & Taouk, Yamna & Hewitt, Belinda & King, Tania, 2023. "The gendered associations between precarious employment and mental health in working-age Australians: A longitudinal analysis using 16 waves of the HILDA survey," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 339(C).
    5. Richardson, Robin A. & Harper, Sam & Schmitz, Norbert & Nandi, Arijit, 2018. "The effect of affordable daycare on women's mental health: Evidence from a cluster randomized trial in rural India," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 217(C), pages 32-41.
    6. Jennifer Ervin & Yamna Taouk & Belinda Hewitt & Tania King, 2023. "Trajectories of Unpaid Labour and the Probability of Employment Precarity and Labour Force Detachment Among Prime Working-Age Australian Women," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 169(3), pages 1033-1056, October.
    7. Martin Schröder, 2020. "Men Lose Life Satisfaction with Fewer Hours in Employment: Mothers Do Not Profit from Longer Employment—Evidence from Eight Panels," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 152(1), pages 317-334, November.
    8. Daiga Kamerade & Ursula Balderson & Brendan Burchell & Senhu Wang & Adam Coutts, 2020. "Shorter Working Week and Workers' Well-being and Mental Health," Working Papers wp522, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
    9. Paula Franklin & Wouter Zwysen & Agnieszka Piasna, 2022. "Temporal Dimensions of Job Quality and Gender: Exploring Differences in the Associations of Working Time and Health between Women and Men," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-18, April.
    10. Dinh, Huong & Cooklin, Amanda R. & Leach, Liana S. & Westrupp, Elizabeth M. & Nicholson, Jan M. & Strazdins, Lyndall, 2017. "Parents' transitions into and out of work-family conflict and children's mental health: Longitudinal influence via family functioning," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 42-50.
    11. Jongha Jeon & Wanhyung Lee & Won-Jun Choi & Seunghon Ham & Seong-Kyu Kang, 2020. "Association between Working Hours and Self-Rated Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-11, April.
    12. Li, Jianghong & Bünning, Mareike & Kaiser, Till & Hipp, Lena, 2022. "Who suffered most? Parental stress and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany [Wer leidet am stärksten? Erziehungsstress und psychische Belastungen bei Eltern während der COVID-19 Pa," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 34(1), pages 281-309.
    13. Najia Syed & Cathy Banwell & Tehzeeb Zulfiqar, 2020. "Highly Skilled South Asian Migrant Women in Australia: Hidden Economic Assets," Global Journal of Health Science, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(12), pages 130-130, November.
    14. Bei Liu & Hong Chen & Xin Gan, 2019. "How Much Is Too Much? The Influence of Work Hours on Social Development: An Empirical Analysis for OECD Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-15, December.
    15. Kamerāde, Daiga & Wang, Senhu & Burchell, Brendan & Balderson, Sarah Ursula & Coutts, Adam, 2019. "A shorter working week for everyone: How much paid work is needed for mental health and well-being?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    16. Chiara Mussida & Raffaella Patimo, 2021. "Women’s Family Care Responsibilities, Employment and Health: A Tale of Two Countries," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 42(3), pages 489-507, September.
    17. Chiara Mussida & Raffaella Patimo, 2018. "Women’s care responsibilities, employment and health: a two countries’ tale," DISCE - Quaderni del Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali dises141, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).

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