Gender time inequality in the EU: aligning men's time in domestic work and care with the dual-earner-dual-carer framework

Abstract

It is widely recognised that gender inequality also manifests itself in an unequal distribution of working times between men and women. In all developed countries, women work fewer paid hours than men, while men devote little time to unpaid labour and domestic responsibilities. This leads to a double disadvantage for women, both in terms of the overall workload they bear, largely reducing the leisure time that is available for them, and in terms of the time they can spend in the labour market pursuing a professional career. But it also entails constraints for men, whose socialisation is biased towards productive work, causing them to systematically devote less time to family activities and thus resulting in limitations on their individual choices and preferences. Existing literature in this field highlights that considering both individual and household-level factors, as well as country-level characteristics, is crucial for understanding the mechanisms behind such a gendered time imbalance. To further examine this association, the present study proposes a cross-country investigation comparing six European countries. By using Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis, the present research seeks to identify micro and macro factors enabling the transition of men's time towards greater involvement in domestic responsibilities and caregiving. In other words, an attempt is made to understand the combinations of factors influencing the alignment of men with the earner-carer model and with women's working time standards.