What is your couple type? Gender ideology, housework and babies

Giulia Fuochi, Università degli Studi di Torino
Arnstein Aassve, Università Bocconi
Letizia Mencarini, Università degli Studi di Torino and Collegio Carlo Alberto
Daria Mendola, Università degli Studi di Palermo

This paper examines the consistency between gender equality in opinions and attitudes and equality in the division of household labor by building a typology of respondents that combines two indexes for two dimensions of gender equality. The typology identifies four types of couples: gender unequal attitudes and gender unequal housework sharing, gender equal attitudes and gender unequal housework sharing, gender unequal attitudes and gender equal housework sharing, gender equal attitudes and gender equal housework sharing. We assess the impact of the typology on the likelihood of a new childbirth, using two-wave panel data of the Bulgarian, French and Hungarian Generations and Gender Surveys. The impact of the typology varies with parity and gender: taking as reference category the case of gender equal attitudes and gender equal division of housework, the effect of the other couple types on a new childbirth is strong and negative for parity one and female respondents, while it largely disappears for other parities.