ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the aspects of how children and their impact upon workload differ for men and for women. There are differences between mothers and fathers both in the total work burden they shoulder, and in the way they spend time with children in relative terms. The opposing camp argues that while women are becoming less specialised in the way they allocate time, men continue to specialise only in paid market activity. The metaphor of a dual burden is quite apt. Child care as a secondary or accompanying activity requires the parent's presence and at least part of their attention. Children bring greater time commitments to both sexes, but alter the comparative gender situation only slightly. Parenthood, for either sex, brings with it a requirement for secondary activity that is negligible for non-parents. Perhaps mitigating the constraint identified above, sole mothers enjoy more recreation without their children present than do partnered mothers.
