The social production of housework disability

Housework disability, or difficulty carrying out household tasks, is an important consequence of long-term health conditions. Despite its particular salience to women because of the ongoing gendered division of labor in the household, very little is known about the social correlates of housework disability. Drawing from research on social models of disability and social roles and health, this paper examines the effects of roles on women's difficulties with housework. Data are from the 1986 Statistics Canada Health and Activity Limitation Survey, a cross-sectional, national probability sample of community dwellers with disabling conditions. An unweighted subsample of 15,661 women between 20 and 64 years of age was selected for analysis. The occupation of social roles, including those of mother, worker and marital partner, reduced the likelihood that women would report housework disability. In addition, children's ages were inversely related to housework disability among those living with children. These findings extend the growing literature on social roles and health by suggesting that the role enhancement hypothesis may help us to understand experiences of disability.