The Transition to Parenthood in the French and German Speaking Parts of Switzerland
After the first transition to parenthood, most couples adopt a gendered labor division, where mothers become main caregivers and fathers breadwinners of the family. By comparing two distinct language regions within one country, the present article explores how parents’ gendered labor division comes...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cogitatio
2020-10-01
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| Series: | Social Inclusion |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion/article/view/3018 |
| _version_ | 1818180199051689984 |
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| author | Regula Zimmermann Jean-Marie LeGoff |
| author_facet | Regula Zimmermann Jean-Marie LeGoff |
| author_sort | Regula Zimmermann |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | After the first transition to parenthood, most couples adopt a gendered labor division, where mothers become main caregivers and fathers breadwinners of the family. By comparing two distinct language regions within one country, the present article explores how parents’ gendered labor division comes into existence and what role gendered culture and social policy play. The analysis draws on in-depth interviews with 23 German speaking and 73 French speaking participants from Switzerland. The results reveal that French speaking women and men presume an egalitarian labor division as parents. In German speaking regions, however, participants anticipate that mothers will become the main caregivers and fathers the breadwinners. It is shown that the labor market structure, which is in line with the male breadwinner norm, contributes to men’s full-time employment, whereas mothers’ labor market insertion is influenced by the acceptance of non-parental childcare and to a lesser extent by the offer of childcare facilities. Further, mothers experience more time conflicts than fathers, and the less mothers’ paid work is accepted, the more they suffer from feelings of guilt when being employed. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T21:15:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ce55912a2c27439bbe561e5cb73e6339 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2183-2803 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T21:15:58Z |
| publishDate | 2020-10-01 |
| publisher | Cogitatio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Social Inclusion |
| spelling | doaj.art-ce55912a2c27439bbe561e5cb73e63392022-12-22T00:50:35ZengCogitatioSocial Inclusion2183-28032020-10-0184354510.17645/si.v8i4.30181667The Transition to Parenthood in the French and German Speaking Parts of SwitzerlandRegula Zimmermann0Jean-Marie LeGoff1Department of Social Sciences, University of Basel, SwitzerlandInstitute of Social Sciences, Université de Lausanne, SwitzerlandAfter the first transition to parenthood, most couples adopt a gendered labor division, where mothers become main caregivers and fathers breadwinners of the family. By comparing two distinct language regions within one country, the present article explores how parents’ gendered labor division comes into existence and what role gendered culture and social policy play. The analysis draws on in-depth interviews with 23 German speaking and 73 French speaking participants from Switzerland. The results reveal that French speaking women and men presume an egalitarian labor division as parents. In German speaking regions, however, participants anticipate that mothers will become the main caregivers and fathers the breadwinners. It is shown that the labor market structure, which is in line with the male breadwinner norm, contributes to men’s full-time employment, whereas mothers’ labor market insertion is influenced by the acceptance of non-parental childcare and to a lesser extent by the offer of childcare facilities. Further, mothers experience more time conflicts than fathers, and the less mothers’ paid work is accepted, the more they suffer from feelings of guilt when being employed.https://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion/article/view/3018family policygender inequalitylabor divisionparenthoodswitzerland |
| spellingShingle | Regula Zimmermann Jean-Marie LeGoff The Transition to Parenthood in the French and German Speaking Parts of Switzerland Social Inclusion family policy gender inequality labor division parenthood switzerland |
| title | The Transition to Parenthood in the French and German Speaking Parts of Switzerland |
| title_full | The Transition to Parenthood in the French and German Speaking Parts of Switzerland |
| title_fullStr | The Transition to Parenthood in the French and German Speaking Parts of Switzerland |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Transition to Parenthood in the French and German Speaking Parts of Switzerland |
| title_short | The Transition to Parenthood in the French and German Speaking Parts of Switzerland |
| title_sort | transition to parenthood in the french and german speaking parts of switzerland |
| topic | family policy gender inequality labor division parenthood switzerland |
| url | https://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion/article/view/3018 |
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