abstract: 'This article shows that women''s rising earnings contributed to reducing

  inequality in household earnings, with respect to couples. We use data

  from the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) on 1,148,762 coupled households,

  covering 18 OECD countries and the period from 1973 to 2013. In this

  period, women''s share of household earnings grew, spouses'' earnings

  became more strongly and positively correlated in various countries, and

  inequality in women''s earnings was reduced. Inequality in household

  earnings increased due to the rising correlation between spouses''

  earnings, but was reduced more by the decline of inequality in women''s

  earnings. Had women''s earnings remained unchanged since the 1970s and

  1980s, inequality in household earnings would have been higher around

  2010 in all observed OECD countries. Household inequality was reduced

  least by trends in women''s earnings in countries with a long history of

  high female labor-force participation, such as Finland (3\% reduction)

  and Sweden (5\%), and most in countries that observed a stronger

  increase in female labor-force participation in recent decades such as

  Spain (31\%) and the Netherlands (41\%). As more countries are reaching

  a plateau in the growth of women''s employment and earnings, the

  potential for further stimulating women''s employment and earnings to

  counter both women''s and household inequality seems to be increasingly

  limited.'
affiliation: 'Nieuwenhuis, R (Corresponding Author), Stockholm Univ, SOFI, S-10691
  Stockholm, Sweden.

  Nieuwenhuis, Rense, Stockholm Univ, Swedish Inst Social Res SOFI, Stockholm, Sweden.

  van der Kolk, Henk; Need, Ariana, Univ Twente, Dept Publ Adm, Enschede, Netherlands.'
author: Nieuwenhuis, Rense and van der Kolk, Henk and Need, Ariana
author-email: rense.nieuwenhuis@sofi.su.se
author_list:
- family: Nieuwenhuis
  given: Rense
- family: van der Kolk
  given: Henk
- family: Need
  given: Ariana
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1177/0001699316654528
eissn: 1502-3869
files: []
issn: 0001-6993
journal: ACTA SOCIOLOGICA
keywords: 'Women''s earnings; female labor-force participation; inequality;

  household; homogamy; incomplete revolution'
keywords-plus: 'WESTERN COUNTRIES; INCOME INEQUALITY; EMPLOYMENT; FAMILY; GENDER;

  OPPORTUNITIES; EXPLANATIONS; SWEDEN; LABOR; PAY'
language: English
month: FEB
number: '1'
number-of-cited-references: '41'
orcid-numbers: Nieuwenhuis, Rense/0000-0001-6138-0463
pages: 3-20
papis_id: 4f22bb8444b316281baa3b8caa5c9059
ref: Nieuwenhuis2017womensearnings
researcherid-numbers: Nieuwenhuis, Rense/B-4986-2013
times-cited: '23'
title: Women's earnings and household inequality in OECD countries, 1973-2013
type: article
unique-id: WOS:000391570900001
usage-count-last-180-days: '0'
usage-count-since-2013: '24'
volume: '60'
web-of-science-categories: Sociology
year: '2017'