Marriage and gender inequality: work–family arrangements of Portuguese and British highly qualified women

Abstract

This article examines work-family reconciliation processes in order to understand if, over the course of marital life, women become socially closer or further away from their partner. Drawing on work-life interviews with highly qualified women in Portugal and Britain, we compare these processes in two societies with different historical and social backgrounds. Findings reveal three main configurations of social (in)equality which emerge during married life: growing inequality in favour of the man, in favour of the woman or equality between spouses. With due attention to the importance of national specific factors, we present three main conclusions. First, (in) equality is built up over the course of marital life and female strategies for reconciling family and work are at the core of this process. Second, the national specificities can mould the effects of cross-national gender mechanisms. Third, the intersection between cross-cultural phenomena such as conservative attitudes towards domestic work and national specificities (such as the availability of part-time options) is a rather complex process which needs further research.Keywords: work-family conflict; gender; class; division of labour; dual-earner couples Cet article examine les processus de l'articulation entre vie familiale et vie professionnelle afin de comprendre si, au cours de la vie conjugale, les conjoints deviennent socialement plus proches ou plus distants. Utilisant des entretiens approfondis avec des femmes ayant un niveau de qualification élevé, au Portugal et en Grande-Bretagne, l'article compare ces processus dans deux sociétés ayant des contextes historiques et sociaux différents. Les résultats révèlent trois configurations principales de l'(in)égalité sociale émergeant pendant la vie conjugale: l'inégalité croissante qui favorise l'homme; l'inégalité qui favorise la femme; et l'égalité entre conjoints. En ce qui concerne l'importance des facteurs spécifiquement nationaux, l'article présente trois grandes conclusions. Premièrement, l'(in)égalité se construit au cours de la vie conjugale, et les stratégies féminines visant à concilier la vie familiale et la vie professionnelle sont au coeur de ce processus. Deuxièmement, les effets transnationaux des mécanismes de genre sont modelés par les spécificités nationales. Troisièmement, l'intersection entre les spécificités nationales (telles que l'option de travailler à temps partiel) et le phénomène transnational (tel que les attitudes face au travail domestique) est un processus complexe qui doit être étudié plus avant.

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