Fathers' Involvement in the Family, Fertility, and Maternal Employment: Evidence From Central and Eastern Europe

Negotiating Work and Family Spheres: The Dyadic Effects of Flexible Work Arrangements on Fertility Among Dual-Earner Heterosexual Couples

Academics and policymakers have suggested making flexible work arrangements (FWAs) the default in workplaces to promote a family-friendly workplace culture conducive to having and raising children. However, systematic research investigating how FWAs, as a long-term approach to negotiating work-family spheres, are related to fertility among dual-earner heterosexual couples is limited. Drawing on the linked-lives perspective, we theorize the relationship between FWAs and fertility among couples and potential variation depending on the interplay of both spouses' work and family characteristics. We test our hypotheses using longitudinal couple-level dyadic data in the United Kingdom (2010-2022). We find that although FWA availability alone is unrelated to fertility, wives' (not husbands') FWA use is significantly associated with a higher probability of experiencing a first birth. Moreover, the effect of wives' FWA use is particularly pronounced when both spouses work in professional and managerial occupations and when husbands contribute a larger proportion of income and at least equal housework. This study reveals a gendered effect of FWAs on fertility across work-family arrangements, deepening our understanding of couple-level dynamics in the fertility process.

The experience of reproductive planning of female military firefighters

OBJECTIVE

To understand the experience of reproductive planning of female military firefighter health professionals.

METHOD

Phenomenological research under the theoretical-philosophical and methodological framework of Martin Heidegger. Developed in Fire Department units in Rio de Janeiro in the first half of 2016, with 21 female military health professionals.

RESULTS

Women expressed that it is necessary to work and manage roles. Therefore, they have to plan to have a child, due to the difficulty of managing all the tasks and reconciling motherhood with work. They think of a more comfortable situation to dedicate themselves to their children, since they are the main responsiblefor them.

CONCLUSIONS

Comprehensive health actions for military women need to be included in public policies, as it is a group that has been increasingly participating in an environment previously restricted to men and with their characteristics.

O vivido do planejamento reprodutivo de mulheres bombeiras militares

RESUMO Objetivo: Compreender o vivido do planejamento reprodutivo de bombeiras militares profissionais da saúde. Método: Investigação fenomenológica sob o referencial teórico-filosófico e metodológico de Martin Heidegger. Desenvolvida em unidades de Corpo de Bombeiros do Rio de Janeiro no primeiro semestre de 2016 com 21 mulheres militares profissionais da saúde. Resultados: As mulheres expressaram que é necessário trabalhar e conciliar os papéis. Por isso, têm que se programar para ter filho devido à dificuldade de administrar todos os afazeres e conciliar a maternidade com o trabalho. Elas pensam numa situação mais confortável para se dedicar aos filhos, sendo elas as principais responsáveis por eles. Conclusões: Ações de saúde integral das mulheres militares necessitam ser incluídas nas políticas públicas, pois é um grupo que vem participando cada vez mais em um ambiente anteriormente restrito aos homens e com características relacionadas a eles.

Gender Equality and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Labour Market, Family Relationships and Public Policy

During the recovery, investing in gender equality is essential: it will lead directly to higher GDP and indirectly to increase human capital and promote a sustainable society. Or Women as economic agents may themselves have an impact on policies: the changing role of women in families and societies and their greater representation in decision making positions contribute to focusing and redirecting the policy agenda toward items that ultimately reduce gender gaps.

Women's and men's work, housework and childcare, before and during COVID-19

Evidence from past economic crises indicates that recessions often affect men's and women's employment differently, with a greater impact on male-dominated sectors. The current COVID-19 crisis presents novel characteristics that have affected economic, health and social phenomena over wide swaths of the economy. Social distancing measures to combat the spread of the virus, such as working from home and school closures, have placed an additional tremendous burden on families. Using new survey data collected in April 2020 from a representative sample of Italian women, we analyse the effects of working arrangements due to COVID-19 on housework, childcare and home schooling among couples where both partners work. Our results show that most of the additional housework and childcare associated to COVID-19 falls on women while childcare activities are more equally shared within the couple than housework activities. According to our empirical estimates, changes to the amount of housework done by women during the emergency do not seem to depend on their partners' working arrangements. With the exception of those continuing to work at their usual place of work, all of the women surveyed spend more time on housework than before. In contrast, the amount of time men devote to housework does depend on their partners' working arrangements: men whose partners continue to work at their usual workplace spend more time on housework than before. The link between time devoted to childcare and working arrangements is more symmetric, with higher percentages of both women and men spending less time with their children if they continue to work away from home. For home schooling, too, parents who continue to go to their usual workplace after the lockdown are less likely to spend greater amounts of time with their children than before. Similar results emerge for the partners of women not working before the emergency. Finally, analysis of work-life balance satisfaction shows that working women with children aged 0-5 are those who find balancing work and family more difficult during COVID-19. The work-life balance is especially difficult to achieve for those with partners who continue to work outside the home during the emergency.