Domestic divisions of labour are negotiated in the context of patterns of paid employment and social policies which promote specific childcare arrangements. In this chapter I situate the literature on domestic divisions of labour in this wider context so as to provide a framework for the chapters that follow. I look, first, at how domestic tasks have been conceptualized, before discussing the differences between public and private sector employment which constrain what is possible in terms of de-gendering domestic divisions of labour. I then consider how gendered moral values and responsibilities influence both how couples think they should behave and how these gendered discourses are incorporated into state policies on parental leave and childcare provision, exploring how working practices and childcare provision shape the context within which couples negotiate the division of housework and childcare. Where relevant, I draw attention to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A task is not just a task: conceptualizing domestic labour

Unpaid domestic work was first put under the sociological microscope in the 1970s by Ann Oakley (1974). Her influential text, The Sociology of Housework, challenged the exclusion of domestic work from sociology and argued that housework should be seen as work. She showed that it resembled assembly line work, being associated with ‘monotony’, ‘fragmentation’, and ‘social isolation’, but was unpaid. Oakley not only drew attention to the importance of including housework in sociological research but also highlighted its gendering. Since then, research into domestic divisions of labour has expanded, but domestic labour itself often remains undefined. The terms most used – ‘domestic labour’, ‘domestic work’, ‘housework’, or ‘household labour’ – usually relate to the routine tasks of household maintenance, such as cooking, cleaning, and washing clothes and dishes.