The Division of Labour Among European Couples: The Effects of Life Course and Welfare Policy on Value-Practice Configurations

Institutions as reference points for parents-to-be in European societies: a theoretical and analytical framework

“…Our study seeks to complement this research by investigating culture in its interplay with welfare state policies. We claim that cultural explanations alone omit important aspects of how cultural belief systems differ between modern societies and why their influence on gendered choices appears to be weak in some countries but not in others (Bühlmann, Elcheroth and Tettamanti 2010). In support of our claim we first provide evidence illustrating that gender culture is made of several dimensions.…”

“…Available evidence suggests that the historical persistence of traditional divisions of labour among couples -the stalled revolution (England 2006(England , 2008 -is largely driven by three processes. First, compared to older cohorts or age groups, young couples today actually do divide paid and unpaid work more equally during early stages of the life course (Bühlmann, Elcheroth and Tettamanti 2010;Fuwa and Cohen 2007). Second, in many countries these initial egalitarian divisions are followed by a traditionalization of gender roles over the course of family formation (Evertsson and Nermo 2007;Fox 2009;Grunow, Schulz and Blossfeld 2012;Kühhirt 2012;Miller 2007Miller , 2010Schober 2013).…”

“…Third, patterns of labour division established upon entering parenthood have been found to persist during later stages of the life course (Deutsch 1999;Gershuny, Bittman and Brice 2005;Grunow, Schulz and Blossfeld 2012;Hays 1996;Walzer 1998). This suggests that couples adapt formerly egalitarian gender ideologies and practices to less egalitarian realities in the process of family formation (Baxter et al 2014;Bühlmann, Elcheroth and Tettamanti 2010;Kaufmann 1998). Yet, little is known about how egalitarian and traditional gender ideologies conflict or change over the adult life course and how individuals then create and maintain their gender identities in the early stages of family formation and beyond.…”

More Gender Equality, More Homogamy? A Cohort Comparison in Six European Countries

“…This age range corresponds more or less to the age at which couples are most likely to live with children. Moreover, as the gendered division of labour intensifies after transition to parenthood (Bühlmann et al 2010;Le Goff and Levy 2016;Le Goff et al 2009), differences in gender norms according to couple configuration should be the most visible during this life course phase. We also excluded couples in their fifties as the probability of divorce increases with age as a result of a longer exposure to separation risks, but also because divorce risk is likely to diverge between homogamous and heterogamous couples.…”

“…For instance, more traditional arrangements tend to be more widespread among both privileged and disadvantaged social classes (Levy et al 1997). Numerous studies have documented that couple arrangements change after the transition to parenthood in the sense of a strengthening of the traditional division of labour between men and women (Bühlmann et al 2010;Le Goff and Levy 2016;Le Goff et al 2009;Widmer et al 2012). However, couple arrangements probably depend primarily on institutional settings as arrangement choices are made first and foremost according to opportunities and constraints (Krüger and Levy 2001), rather than essentially according to individual preference (Hakim 1996).…”