Source-Country Gender Roles and the Division of Labor within Immigrant Families

Kristyn Frank, Statistics Canada
Feng Hou, Statistics Canada

This study asks whether source-country gender roles continue to influence the gender division of labor after individuals move to a new society. The analysis focuses on the impact of source-country gender roles on the division of paid and unpaid labor within immigrant families. The results show that the two indicators of source-country gender roles – female/male labor activity ratio and female/male secondary education ratio– are both positively associated with immigrant wives’ share in their family labor supply and negatively associated with their share in housework. The effect of source-country female/male labor activity declines over time, but the magnitude of the decline is small, particularly in the effect on housework. The effect of source-country female/male labor activity is enhanced if immigrant couples come from the same country.