Gender Equality in Europe and the Effect of Work-Family Balance Policies on Gender-Role Attitudes

Abstract

This study starts from the assumption that the context of opportunities for work-family balance affects individual attitudes toward gender roles, a main indicator of support for gender equality. Compared with extant research, the present study adopts a more articulated definition of “opportunity structure” that includes national income level and social norms on gender attitudes, measures of gender-mainstreaming policies implemented at the company level (flextime), and different work-family balance policies in support of the dual-earner/dual-caregiver family model (e.g., parental-leave schemes and childcare provisions). The effects of these factors are estimated by performing a cross-sectional multilevel analysis for the year 2014. Gender-role attitudes and micro-level controls are taken from the Eurobarometer for all 28 European Union (EU) members, while macro-indicators stem from Eurostat, European Quality of Work Survey, and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Our results show that both institutional and workplace arrangements supporting the dual-earner/dual-caregiver family model are associated with more egalitarian gender-role attitudes This is particularly true concerning availability of formal childcare for 0- to 3-year-olds among institutional factors, as well as work-schedule flexibility among workplace factors, probably as they enable a combination of care and paid work for both men and women.

Who Wants to Work More? Multilevel Study on Underemployment of Working Mothers in 22 European Countries

“…This supports the argument that when mothers' underemployment is studied, questions related to the organization of childcare should be taken into account (see also Kjeldstad and Nymoen 2012). However, it should be noted that the childcare coverage variable actually measured the use of childcare (Lomazzi et al 2018). Hence, more precisely, the probability of being underemployed increases by one percentage point when the usage of childcare decreases by one percentage point.…”

Does the household context matter for job satisfaction among low-wage workers?

“…'Gender contracts' reflecting households' arrangements in balancing paid work and care work are not simply a result of individual preferences. The outcome of the partners' negotiations is a combination of practices, norms, values, structural factors and institutional opportunities (Aboim, 2010;Dingeldey, 2016;Lomazzi et al, 2018;Pfau-Effinger, 2005). Nonetheless, the worse situational job characteristics of women do not necessarily lead to lower job satisfaction.…”

Gender Role Attitudes in the International Social Survey Programme: Cross-National Comparability and Relationships to Cultural Values

“…Previous research demonstrated that the nexus between individual gender role attitudes and the societal context is particularly relevant, both considering the structural and the cultural orientation of a country. On one hand, the societal structure of opportunity, such as the availability of daycare services, parental leave schemes, or labor market conditions, affect attitudes toward gender roles (André et al, 2013; Lomazzi et al, 2019; Kangas & Rostgaard, 2007; Sjöberg, 2004). On the other hand, gender role attitudes are connected with broader value orientations, which can differ vastly across societies according to their cultural, social, and political history (Inglehart, 1997; Kalmijn, 2003; Pfau-Effinger, 2004; Schwartz, 2006).…”