Migration and Dynamics in Men’s and Women’s Domestic Work

Abstract

International migration of couples is rising. Still, there is little evidence on men’sand women’s domestic work hours before and after migration. This is despite thefact that domestic work provides deep insights into family life and, for migrants, isdirectly linked to integration. Therefore, this study examines how immigrant menand women change their domestic work hours following migration, using datafrom theGerman Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).Our results show that domesticwork hours increase for both genders after immigration. However, men aremore responsible for running errands than women in the first years after migration.In the long term, the gender gaps return to the pre-migration state, withwomen shouldering a greater load than men. Accordingly, this study shows thatmigration only has a short-term impact on couples’ division of domestic work.