How to Divide Paid Work and Unpaid Care between Parents? Comparison of Attitudes in 22 Western Countries

Milla Salin,Mia Hakovirta,Minna Ylikännö

doi:10.3390/socsci7100188

Milla Salin, Mia Hakovirta + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci7100188

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Journal: Social Sciences	Publication Date: Oct 7, 2018
Citations: 14	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Turku, Kemira (Finland)

Abstract

Sharing responsibilities for paid work and unpaid care between men and women is recognised as one of the challenges that Western countries face in the 21st century. This article examines attitudes towards sharing paid work and unpaid care responsibilities in 22 Western countries by addressing the following questions. (1) How do attitudes towards different earner-carer models vary across countries? (2) Which socio-demographic and country-level factors explain differences in attitudes to an equal division of paid work and unpaid care responsibilities? International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) data 2012 is used as the data source and research methods include logistic multi-level regression analysis. Results reveal that cross-national variations in attitudes are significant: Most traditional attitudes are found in many Eastern European countries, whereas Nordic countries are the least traditional. At the individual level, those who are highly educated, in paid work, single, childless, and religiously non-active support the equal division of paid work and unpaid care responsibilities more often than other respondents. At the country level, longer father-specific parental leave, a stronger tradition of women’s paid work, and less traditional gender roles are related to stronger support for an equal division of paid work and unpaid care.

Highlights

During the last few decades, many Western countries have witnessed a rise in women’s, especially mothers’, labour market participation (Eurostat 2017)
1) How do attitudes towards different earner-carer models vary across countries? 2) Which individual and country-level factors explain the differences in attitudes to an equal division of paid work and unpaid care responsibilities? Countries included are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United
It appears that countries do not differ from each other in one respect: Neither the female breadwinner nor the modified female breadwinner model is seen as the best way to share paid work and unpaid care responsibilities in any country

Summary

Introduction

During the last few decades, many Western countries have witnessed a rise in women’s, especially mothers’, labour market participation (Eurostat 2017). This has led to changes in women’s and men’s roles regarding paid work and unpaid care responsibilities: The traditional ‘male breadwinner and female homemaker’ model, where fathers are responsible for earning the income and mothers for taking care of children and home, has been losing its importance. The question of how paid work and unpaid care responsibilities are shared in families is crucial, because raising the employment rate is one of the main political objectives in many Western countries, and raising the employment rate of women and mothers is especially emphasized Paid work has increased more than fathers’ unpaid care work. (England 2010; Esping-Andersen 2009; Hochschild and Machung 2003; Lewis 2009) Still, sharing the responsibility for paid work and unpaid care between men and women has become one of the challenges that Western countries are facing in the 21st century.

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