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Gender Inequality in Retirement

The gendered pattern of dividing household tasks persists into older age and retirement. This three-year project, "Gender Inequality in Retirement: Understanding Social Organization in Domestic Tasks," responds to the above gap in theoretical knowledge. It aims to understand the mechanisms that shape gender inequality in domestic work among retired Canadians in opposite-sex couples. The project explores the following questions. How do older married and cohabiting adults divide and share domestic work in retirement? What are the main mechanisms behind their division and sharing of household work?

 

Funders: This project is funded by the SSHRC Insight Grant.



Deliverables and Milestones

NEW PUBLICATION: Revisiting the STEM Acronym: Toward Conceptual Clarity

August 7, 2025 by Mila Kolpashnikova

Project: Gender Inequality in Retirement

Abstract

We revisit how science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) has been defined, showing that ambiguity continues to complicate our understanding of the concept. Given the widespread use of the STEM acronym, one might assume its meaning was consistent and clear. We demonstrate, however, in four inter-related ways, that STEM’s meaning remains poorly focused and, subsequently, inconsistently applied. We show that the origin story of STEM is contested, that various related acronyms now vie for attention, that operational definitions of STEM are scattered, and that certain STEM-related policy initiatives need more nuance. As evidence for the latter two claims, we rely on a systematic audit of Canadian higher education research on STEM and on a longitudinal review of the gender balance among STEM university graduates. A reconceptualization of STEM’s focus is especially critical, as inconsistency in the acronym’s meaning clouds how research findings can be translated into policy. Policy decisions need to be properly grounded in reproducible evidence. Replication matters to good science and weak definition hampers reproducibility.

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NEW PUBLICATION: Housework sharing among older couples

September 29, 2024 by Mila Kolpashnikova

Project: Gender Inequality in Retirement

Cha, S. E., Suh, J., & Kolpashnikova, K. (2024). Housework sharing among older couples: explaining the gendered division of domestic labour in older age in South Korea. Asian Population Studies, 1-18.


Abstract
Our study investigates the relationship between family models and housework division among older couples. Using the 2019 Korean Time Use Survey, we analysed wives’ share of housework in four family models—dual-earner, traditional (husband-breadwinner), wife-breadwinner, and retired (non-employed) couples—in which at least one partner was aged 65 or above (N = 1,564). Results show that although wives’ housework share varies across the four family models, unequal distribution of housework persists in older age, with wives shouldering over 70 per cent of the total housework regardless of the family model. Wives’ housework share in wife-breadwinner couples was significantly lower than that among dual earners. We also found that economic resources, particularly income, and gender ideology play a limited role in explaining the division of housework among older couples. However, health played a crucial role, with wives and husbands doing more housework when their partners reported poor health.