On the Reproduction of Gendered and Classed Inequalities: Understanding Children's Family Labor in Brazil

Research on children's time use has documented that boys spend less time than girls on family labor. However, class heterogeneities in these gendered patterns remain under-investigated. This study examines children's family labor in Brazil, focusing on class inequalities. It addresses three goals: investigating a potential class gradient in the gender gap in family labor among Brazilian children; examining whether parents' distribution of domestic work affects boys' and girls' time in household activities; and exploring whether the association between parents' distribution of family labor and children's gendered allocation to these tasks varies across class lines. Results indicate that, while girls conduct more family labor than boys across class, this disparity is larger among disadvantaged children. Moreover, fathers' higher participation in family labor is linked with increases in boys' time in these tasks, regardless of social class. Our results highlight the need to include intersecting gender and class disparities in the study of children's family labor.