The unchanging divide: housework and labor responsibilities in late family stages

Abstract This paper examines the long-term evolution of paid and unpaid work within heterosexual parental couples who remain together as children transition into adulthood. Using UK longitudinal data from 1992 to 2023, we document persistent gendered divisions of labor during both co-residence with young adult children and after their emancipation. A dynamic difference-in-differences framework reveals that while emancipation leads mothers to significantly reduce their housework and expand their paid labor hours and earnings, fathers’ time allocation remains largely unchanged. Further analyses suggest that, despite these adjustments, gendered patterns in domestic labor endure due to entrenched norms and task specialization, even in female breadwinner households. Our findings highlight the persistence of early household specializations well beyond the caregiving years and underscore the role of social norms and learned behaviors in maintaining gendered divisions of labor.