Women's Time Allocation to Child Care: Determinants and Consequences

The time women allocate to child care varies appreciably according to personal and labour market characteristics. Of particular note is the finding that better educated women spend more time in most forms of child care activities than their less well educated counterparts. This link between educational attainment and time devoted to child care is advanced as a possible justification for subsidising the education of women to a greater extent than the subsidy to men's education. It is also suggested that the stereotypes that appear to govern the household allocation of time will be difficult to break down, so that any changes in such time allocations will be slow and uncertain.