Sex, breadwinner status, and perceived job insecurity: A comparative analysis in Europe

Abstract

Previous research has produced contradictory results about the relationship between sex and perceived job insecurity (JI). The male-breadwinner ideology has been put forward to explain the fact that women often report less JI. In addition, previous research on JI has highlighted the importance of the national socioeconomic context, and gender studies have underlined the need to take gender dimensions into account when studying national socioeconomic contexts. This article contributes to those debates by measuring the effect of sex on JI and the moderating effect of breadwinner status in different groups of countries characterized by homogeneous socioeconomic and gender-related contexts. To do so, the authors use the 2015 EWCS survey, and add macro indicators for the national contexts. The results show that when controlling for breadwinner status, sex has no significant effect regardless of the national context; in addition, breadwinner status moderates the relationship between sex and perceived JI in some national contexts.

Gender Stereotypes in Europe

“…This model developed in the middle classes before spreading to the working classes in the mid-20 th century (Creighton, 1996), and has long served as justification for pay inequalities (Downs, 2006;Meron & Silvera, 2006). Even though the traditional model of the family with the mother at home and the father as the main income provider has become a minority in most European countries, the idea that the man's salary is the main income is still widespread (Coron & Schmidt, 2022) and domestic tasks are still distributed very unevenly. This may explain, or be explained by, the persistence of the stereotypes that make up this model (Brousse, 2015;Charles & James, 2005).…”

Discrimination in Access to Employment: The Combined Effects of Gender, Origin and Address

“…This model developed in the middle classes before spreading to the working classes in the mid-20 th century (Creighton, 1996), and has long served as justification for pay inequalities (Downs, 2006;Meron & Silvera, 2006). Even though the traditional model of the family with the mother at home and the father as the main income provider has become a minority in most European countries, the idea that the man's salary is the main income is still widespread (Coron & Schmidt, 2022) and domestic tasks are still distributed very unevenly. This may explain, or be explained by, the persistence of the stereotypes that make up this model (Brousse, 2015;Charles & James, 2005).…”