The Second Shift Reflected in the Second Generation

Abstract

Gender inequality at home continues to constrain gender equality at work. How do the gender disparities in domestic labor that children observe between their parents predict those children's visions for their future roles? The present research examined how parents' behaviors and implicit associations concerning domestic roles, over and above their explicit beliefs, predict their children's future aspirations. Data from 326 children aged 7 to 13 years revealed that mothers' explicit beliefs about domestic gender roles predicted the beliefs held by their children. In addition, when fathers enacted or espoused a more egalitarian distribution of household labor, their daughters in particular expressed a greater interest in working outside the home and having a less stereotypical occupation. Fathers' implicit gender-role associations also uniquely predicted daughters' (but not sons') occupational preferences. These findings suggest that a more balanced division of household labor between parents might promote greater workforce equality in future generations.

Children's Career Expectations and Parents' Jobs: Intergenerational (Dis)continuities

“…Regarding the gendered nature of children's expectations and their parents' jobs, our results supported Hypotheses 1-3. There seems to exist a greater gender circumscription for boys than for girls, which is consistent with literature (Croft et al, 2014;David et al, 2015;Lawson et al, 2018;Lee et al, 2018). The preponderance of findings in our study support calls to acknowledge and act on boys' vulnerability to their early gender-biased circumscription of career aspirations and expectations (Croft et al, 2014).…”

“…In contrast, girls seem to demonstrate flexibility by aspiring to and perceiving themselves as competent in male-dominated jobs (David, Paixão, & Silva, 2015;Lawson, Lee, Crouter, & McHale, 2018). Girls' flexibility in gendered career stereotypes might be associated with their parental support for career exploration across gendered boundaries and their increased time spent in male-dominated leisure activities from middle childhood through adolescence (e.g., Croft, Schmader, Block, & Baron, 2014;Lee, Skinner, & McHale, 2018).…”

Combining Gender, Work, and Family Identities: The Cross-Over and Spill-Over of Gender Norms into Young Adults’ Work and Family Aspirations

“…Given that both young males and females perceived norms to ascribe that men should invest more in their family than what they currently invest, gender equality in the family domain is likely to be improved when such changing gender norms are made salient. Also, the advantages of men taking part in family tasks for men’s psychological and physical health, for women’s well-being, for relationship satisfaction, and for children’s adjustment (Biehle and Mickelson, 2012; Croft et al, 2014, 2015) could be highlighted and communicated more. More generally, since young adults mirror their own aspirations to the norms which they perceive for their own gender-group, investing in altering their perceptions of gender norms to be less traditional is likely to feed social change.…”

“…More generally, since young adults mirror their own aspirations to the norms which they perceive for their own gender-group, investing in altering their perceptions of gender norms to be less traditional is likely to feed social change. For instance, such change may be initiated by more non-traditional gender role models in education and the mass media (Hogben and Waterman, 1997; Greenwood and Lippman, 2009) and through children’s home environment (Goldberg et al, 2012; Croft et al, 2014). …”

“…They reflect what young adults see in their social context: to what extent do men and women currently take up family and career roles? We included descriptive norms as people’s behavior is shaped by what they encounter in their social surrounding (Oishi and Graham, 2010), and young adults’ choices regarding families and careers are influenced by what they have seen around them (Croft et al, 2014; Gerson, 2010). Prescriptive norms meanwhile indicate what men and women should do (Eagly, 1987; Heilman, 2001, 2012; Prentice and Carranza, 2002).…”