Couple migration and housework dynamics in China: A longitudinal analysis

China has witnessed an increasing trend in couple migration within the country. Research has argued that China's massive migration can be a driving force for transforming couples' unequal gender relations in Chinese families. This study examines the impacts of couple migration within and across provinces on couples' highly gendered housework dynamics. The study draws on five waves of panel data from the China Family Panel Studies (2010, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020), and employs couple fixed effects models. The results show that couples' cross-province migration leads to decreases in husbands' and wives' housework time and couples' total housework time. However, couple migration, no matter moving within or across provinces, does not shape how the husbands and wives divide housework. This study argues that despite some impacts on housework arising from couples' migration to other provinces, couple migration does not weaken or reinforce gender inequality in the within-couple division of housework. Other aspects of gender relations than couples’ sharing housework may be more prone to change as a consequence of couple migration in the Chinese context.