In general, the domestic division of labor varies with contextual factors such as the labor market and industrial structure, and with household characteristics such as family structure, social class, income source, ethnicity, and relative factor endowments of male versus female family members. To identify patterns across the region, it is useful to focus on the interplay between social norms and everyday practices producing gendered definitions of work. Social norms either differentially assign obligations to men and women, or differentially prohibit them from certain tasks.

Th…