Abstract
The current article aims to explain the interrelationships between the educational attainment of individuals living in house-holds with heterosexual partners, their work–life balance (WLB) and the macro-economic climate of the country they live in, using data from the European Social Survey. WLB is a complex concept, as it is not only determined by factors related to someone’s employment or domestic work and childcare responsibilities, but also by decisions informed by personal experiences and circumstances, subjective perceptions and preferences. Moreover, in households with cohabiting partners, this decision-making process involves certain compromises where financial incentives, interests, gender and power dynamics play an important role. Since educational attainment is positively related to labour market outcomes, such as employment and wages, while at the same time more women are participating in education and the labour market, the gender conflict on the division of work and time within households intensifies and traditional gender roles are challenged. WLB is at the heart of this conflict operating as a mechanism through which division of work and time is reconciled on the individual and household level. Results from the current article reveal great heterogeneity between the 17 European countries examined. Perhaps surprisingly, educational attainment can have a detrimental effect on the WLB of spouses and cohabiting partners, especially for women whose level of WLB seems also more sensitive to fluctuations of the macro-economic climate of the country they live in. However, there is an indication that when an economy goes into recession, higher education has a cushioning effect on female’s WLB compared to relatively better economic times.
Highlights
Many studies indicate that over the last decades the male-breadwinner model in Europe has been declining, while the dual-earner model gains momentum (Gornick & Meyers, 2009; McGinnity & Whelan, 2009; Ochsner & Szalma, 2017)
With regards to the variable that shows years of educational attainment, when differences between countries are not taken into account, it was statistically insignificant for males while, for females, it was significant but negatively correlated, implying that higher educational attainment is a disinvestment to their work–life balance (WLB) levels
Results suggest that the effect of education on WLB is diverse across the 17 European countries examined, but in most cases, it is weak for both genders
Summary
Many studies indicate that over the last decades the male-breadwinner model in Europe has been declining, while the dual-earner model gains momentum (Gornick & Meyers, 2009; McGinnity & Whelan, 2009; Ochsner & Szalma, 2017). Regarding existing theories on labour division, a stream of literature argues that inequalities among the classic socio-economic factors of social stratification, such as education and class are persistent, they are manifested in different ways across countries. Given the lack of a gender dimension on WLB conceptual frameworks, the current article places the concept of WLB within the broader domain of the gendered division of labour by employing a quantitative strategy that, apart from human capital, can arguably accommodate a number of structural elements of various theoretical models related to WLB and gendered division of labour These elements are represented by specific proxies (variables or block of variables) that are used as controls in the form of effect moderators to reveal the effect of education on WLB and whether this differs by gender and countries’ macro-economic climates (see Table A1 in the Supplementary File). The article concludes by critically discussing the results in relation to the existing literature and their implications for policymaking
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