HOUSEWORKERS AND PAID WORKERS - QUALITIES OF THE WORK AND EFFECTS ON PERSONAL CONTROL

Keeping house is still the primary activity of many women at some point in their lives. In fact, houseworker would be the single largest occupation if it were counted as such. Using a national representative sample of 2,031 adults aged 18 to 90, we compare housework and family care as a primary activity with paid work, and also with volunteer work, leisure activities, home and yard maintenance, and schoolwork. We find that unpaid domestic work is more routine, and that it provides less intrinsic gratification and fewer extrinsic symbolic rewards, than paid work. All three of these dimensions decrease the sense of control. Consequently, houseworkers report a lower sense of control than do paid workers. However, houseworkers report more work autonomy than paid workers, which increases the sense of control. Although houseworkers are thanked for their work more than male paid workers, being thanked did not affect the sense of control.