Double shift for love: influence of romanticism on the distribution of household work and care in the couple

Abstract

This article seeks to raise an initial discussion on the articulation between Romanticism and the dichotomy between the public / private spheres in the conformation of modern liberal states and its consequences on the subordination and inequality of women. In this regard, it is suggested that the ideal of Romanticism, expressed in the norm of female domesticity and in the myths of romantic love, has contributed to the naturalization of the sexual division of labor and the second shift of women, which has incentivized the expansion of capitalism. One of the manifestations of the naturalization of the second shift is the unequal distribution of the time that women and men dedicate to domestic work and care. To exemplify this phenomenon, we use data extracted from the measurement of gender gaps and from studies on the use of time, which allow to quantify of the time that men and women dedicate to productive and reproductive work. Specifically, an analysis is carried out using quantitative data extracted from the time use survey in Chile for the years 2008 and 2015.