Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 6, 2025

Author Spotlight: Capturing Infant-Caregiver Interactions Through Synchronized Multimodal Data Collection
Published on: May 31, 2024
Gendered Division of Digital Labor in Parenting: A Qualitative Study in Urban China
1Department of Sociology, Room 1044, Academic and Administration Building, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong, the SAR, China.
Abstract:
The gendered division of domestic labor is a key topic in gender and family studies. While there has been extensive discussion of time use and the division of physical, emotional, and mental labor in housework and childcare within couples, the division of digital labor in the family has not been systematically examined. Drawing on qualitative data obtained from 147 parents in 84 urban Chinese families, this study reveals prominent gender differences in digital labor in parenting by comparing urban Chinese mothers' and fathers' use of digital technology and media in searching for parenting information, maintaining online communication with teachers, and shopping online and using online education services for their children. The findings demonstrate an unequal division of digital labor in urban Chinese families, in which mothers shoulder most of the digital labor in parenting. This study enriches the feminist literature by demonstrating the mutual construction of gender and digital technology in the domestic sphere and highlighting a new form of domestic labor divided between husbands and wives in the digital age. This study challenges liberating and progressive myths surrounding digital technology and calls for academic reflection and public attention on its constraining and exploitative implications for women.
Supplementary Information:
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11199-021-01267-w.
Related Concept Videos
Socioemotional Experience and Gender Development
Parenting Styles
Authoritarian Parenting
This style is strict and controlling, with little room for open dialogue. Authoritarian parents demand obedience and often enforce rules with minimal warmth. Children raised this way may lack social skills and initiative, usually comparing themselves to others unfavorably.
Authoritative...
Parental Care
Social Foundations of Self IV: Self in Digital Communication
The Sense of Self: Reflected Self-Appraisal and Social Comparison
The Ratio of X Chromosome to Autosomes
Normal male Drosophila has a ratio of one X chromosome to two sets of autosomes. In contrast, normal female...

