scholarly journals How to Divide Paid Work and Unpaid Care between Parents? Comparison of Attitudes in 22 Western Countries

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (10) ◽  
pp. 188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milla Salin ◽  
Minna Ylikännö ◽  
Mia Hakovirta

Sharing responsibilities for paid work and unpaid care between men and women is recognised as one of the challenges that Western countries face in the 21st century. This article examines attitudes towards sharing paid work and unpaid care responsibilities in 22 Western countries by addressing the following questions. (1) How do attitudes towards different earner-carer models vary across countries? (2) Which socio-demographic and country-level factors explain differences in attitudes to an equal division of paid work and unpaid care responsibilities? International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) data 2012 is used as the data source and research methods include logistic multi-level regression analysis. Results reveal that cross-national variations in attitudes are significant: Most traditional attitudes are found in many Eastern European countries, whereas Nordic countries are the least traditional. At the individual level, those who are highly educated, in paid work, single, childless, and religiously non-active support the equal division of paid work and unpaid care responsibilities more often than other respondents. At the country level, longer father-specific parental leave, a stronger tradition of women’s paid work, and less traditional gender roles are related to stronger support for an equal division of paid work and unpaid care.

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 541-567 ◽  
Author(s):  
MIKKEL BARSLUND ◽  
MARTEN VON WERDER ◽  
ASGHAR ZAIDI

ABSTRACTIn the context of emerging challenges and opportunities associated with population ageing, the study of inequality in active-ageing outcomes is critical to the design of appropriate and effective social policies. While there is much discussion about active ageing at the aggregate country level, little is known about inequality in active-ageing experiences within countries. Based on the existing literature on active ageing, this paper proposes an individual-level composite active ageing index based on Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) data. The individual-level nature of the index allows us to analyse inequality in experiences of active ageing within selected European countries. One important motivation behind measuring active ageing at the individual level is that it allows for a better understanding of unequal experiences of ageing, which may otherwise be masked in aggregate-level measures of active ageing. Results show large differences in the distribution of individual-level active ageing across the 13 European countries covered and across age groups. Furthermore, there is a positive association between the country-level active ageing index and the equality of its distribution within a country. Hence, countries with the lowest average active ageing index tend to have the most unequal distribution in active-ageing experiences. For nine European countries, where temporal data are also available, we find that inequality in active-ageing outcomes decreased in the period 2004 to 2013.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimiter Toshkov ◽  
Giulia Cretti

We study how individual and country-level variables interact in affecting political gender attitudes in Europe. Based on data from the 2017 Eurobarometer survey, we show that there are high levels of support for more women in politics and legal measures to achieve gender parity across the EU. In fact, more people, and women in particular, put higher trust in female compared to male political representatives than the other way round. We find that – at the individual level – gender, age and education have significant effects on political gender attitudes. Contrary to theory, however, the effect of gender is not mediated by beliefs about the proper role of women in politics and society. We also do not find support for the contextual effects of masculine culture and the religiosity of society, but we do uncover significant gaps in political gender attitudes between post-communist and other countries, especially for men. This gap is very significant in size and declines only marginally with the age of the respondent. Our study identifies men in post-communist countries as the group least likely to trust female politicians and support gender parity in politics in Europe. These attitudes are at least partly independent from stereotypes about gender roles.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 949 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grzegorz Zasuwa

Product boycotts represent an important form of sustainable consumption, as withholding purchasing can restrain firms from damaging the natural environment or breaking social rules. However, our understanding of consumer participation in these protests is limited. Most previous studies have focused on the psychological and economic determinants of product boycotting. Drawing on social capital literature, this study builds a framework that explains how individual- and contextual-level social capital affects consumer participation in boycotts of products. A multilevel logistic regression analysis of 29 country representative samples derived from the European Social Survey (N = 54221) shows that at the individual level product boycotting is associated with a person’s social ties, whereas at the country level, generalized trust and social networks positively affect consumer decisions to take part in these protests. These results suggest that to better understand differences among countries in consumer activism, it is necessary to consider the role of social capital as an important predictor of product boycotting.


2019 ◽  
Vol 60 (6) ◽  
pp. 385-408 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gayle Kaufman ◽  
Hiromi Taniguchi

This study examines the relationship between gender ideology at the individual level, gender equality at the country level, and women and men’s experiences of work interference with family (WIF) and family interference with work (FIW). We use data from the 2012 International Social Survey Programme as well as the 2011 to 2015 Human Development Reports. Our sample consists of 24,547 respondents from 37 countries. Based on multilevel mixed-effects logistic models, we find that women are more likely than men to experience WIF and FIW. At the individual level, traditional gender ideology positively predicts WIF and FIW. Women and men who reside in more gender-unequal countries have a higher likelihood of FIW while men in these contexts also are more likely to experience WIF. Societal gender inequality is more consequential for those who hold less traditional gender ideology. In conclusion, gender egalitarianism at the individual level and gender equality at the country level are both associated with less WIF and FIW. Policies that seek to address work–family balance should incorporate measures to promote gender equality.


After outlining the key aspects of the changing social, cultural, and policy context of parenting in Western societies, the introduction clarifies terminology and key concepts used throughout the book, such as the distinction among fatherhood, fathering, and types of fathers. It also presents the theoretical framework used to examine father involvement with young children in six countries. This includes the fatherhood regime, fathers’ agency gap and capability to care for children, and gendered care and workplace cultures. In addition, the structural context of welfare states and policy regimes is reviewed to frame the institutional support for father involvement, such as compensated paternity and parental leave. At the individual level father involvement is conceptualized as encompassing engagement, accessibility and responsibility as expressed in the type and quantity of time of fathers’ activities with their young children. Finally, the chapter briefly outlines the structure of the book.


2018 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 301-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maksim Rudnev ◽  
Aleksandra Savelkaeva

This article takes a postmodernization perspective on support for the right to euthanasia by treating it as an expression of a process of value change, as a preference for quality over quantity of life. Using the data from the fifth wave of the World Values Survey, this study attempts to answer the question of whether the mass support for the right to euthanasia is an expression of autonomy values rather than just a function of a low religiosity. Multilevel regressions demonstrate that both traditional religiosity and autonomy values have a high impact at the individual level, while at the country level only the effects of traditional religiosity are significant. Autonomy values have stronger association with attitudes to euthanasia in countries with higher levels of postmaterialism. Multilevel path analysis demonstrates that the effect of religiosity is partially and weakly mediated by the values of autonomy at both levels. Although religiosity was found to have a much stronger impact, the independent effect of autonomy values suggests that mass support for the right to euthanasia is a value-driven preference for quality over quantity of life. We conclude by suggesting that the fall in traditional religiosity might emphasize the role of values in moral attitudes regulation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (8) ◽  
pp. 955-971 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tieyuan Guo ◽  
Roy Spina

Previous research has discussed cultural differences in moderacy vs extremity response styles. The present research found that cultural differences in response styles were more complex than previously speculated. We investigated cross-cultural variations in extreme rejecting versus affirming response biases. Although research has indicated that overall Chinese have less extreme responses than Westerners, the difference may be mainly driven by extreme rejecting responses because respondents consider answering survey questions as a way of interacting with researchers, and extreme rejecting responses may disrupt harmony in relationships, which is valued more in Chinese collectivistic culture than in Western individualistic cultures. Studies 1 and 2 revealed that Chinese had less extreme rejecting response style than did British, whereas they did not differ in extreme affirming response style. Study 2 further revealed that the cross-cultural asymmetry in extreme rejecting versus affirming response styles was partially accounted for by individualism orientation at the individual level. Consistently, Study 3 revealed that at the country level, individualism was positively associated with extreme rejecting response style, but was not associated with extreme affirming response style, suggesting that individualism accounted for the asymmetric cultural variation in extreme rejecting versus affirming response styles.


2016 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 603-627 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Verboord ◽  
Amanda Brandellero

This study offers a cross-national multilayered analysis of music flows between 1960 and 2010. Advancing on previous empirical studies of cultural globalization, it attends to the global and country level, while adding the individual level of music flows. Concretely, the authors analyze the international composition of pop charts in nine countries by (a) mapping trends, (b) comparing countries, and (c) conducting multivariate analyses. The results show that pop charts increasingly contain foreign music, with the exception of the United States. Explanatory analyses of foreign success confirm that limited cultural distance results in greater flow as found in film and television studies, while revealing additional positive impacts of centrality of production (e.g., artists from more “central” countries in music production are more likely to chart abroad) and the “star power” of artists. Both the innovative methodological approach and findings of this article offer promising research avenues for globalization, media industry, and celebrity studies.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heejung Chung ◽  
Pia S. Schober

Many researchers assume a one-dimensionality of gender ideology constructs and/or stability of dimensions across countries and time, yet these assumptions have rarely been tested. WE apply factor analyses on two waves of the International Social Survey Programme in 2002 and 2012, and comparable European countries to test this. Our results show that gender ideologies can be distinguished into distinctive domains that relate to mother’s employment, women’s work, men’s role in the family, and finally women’s breadwinning. These dimensions have be found to be relatively stable across countries and time. Results from regression models investigating different aspects of the gender division of labour suggest that distinguishing dimensions is less important when considering gender ideologies at the individual level but can make a big difference when examining gender culture at the country level.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Williams ◽  
Besnik Krasniqi

PurposeTo transcend the view of employment as either formal or informal, this paper evaluates the prevalence of quasi-formal employment where formal employers pay formal employees an unreported (“envelope”) wage in addition to their formal reported salary. To explain the individual-level variations in quasi-formal employment, the “marginalisation” thesis is evaluated that this practice is more prevalent among vulnerable groups and to explain the country-level variations, and a neo-institutionalist theory is evaluated that it is more prevalent where formal institutional failures lead to an asymmetry between the formal laws and regulations and the unwritten socially shared rules of informal institutions.Design/methodology/approachTo evaluate the individual- and country-level variations in the prevalence of quasi-formal employment, a multi-level logistic regression is provided of data from special 2019 Eurobarometer survey 92.1 involving 11,793 interviews with employees across 28 European countries (the 27 member states of the European Union and the United Kingdom).FindingsOf the 3.5% of employees (1 in 28) who receive under-reported salaries, the marginalisation thesis is supported that it is largely vulnerable population groups. So too is the neo-institutionalist explanation that quasi-formal employment is more common in countries where the non-alignment of formal and informal institutions is greater, with the formal institutional failings producing this identified as lower levels of economic development, less modernised state bureaucracies and lower levels of taxation and social protection.Practical implicationsThe policy implication is that tackling quasi-formal employment requires not only enforcement authorities to improve the risk of detection of this illegal wage practice but also governments to change wider macro-level structural conditions. These are outlined.Originality/valueContemporary new evidence is provided of the prevalence of quasi-formal employment along with how this illegal wage practice can be explained and tackled.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document