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The Transition to Parenthood in the French and German Speaking Parts of Switzerland

Author

Listed:
  • Regula Zimmermann

    (Department of Social Sciences, University of Basel, Switzerland)

  • Jean-Marie LeGoff

    (Institute of Social Sciences, Université de Lausanne, Switzerland)

Abstract

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Regula Zimmermann & Jean-Marie LeGoff, 2020. "The Transition to Parenthood in the French and German Speaking Parts of Switzerland," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(4), pages 35-45.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:socinc:v:8:y:2020:i:4:p:35-45
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Laura Ravazzini, 2018. "Childcare and maternal part-time employment: a natural experiment using Swiss cantons," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, Springer;Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics, vol. 154(1), pages 1-16, December.
    3. Carmichael, Fiona & Ercolani, Marco G., 2016. "Unpaid caregiving and paid work over life-courses: Different pathways, diverging outcomes," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 1-11.
    4. Natascha Notten & Daniela Grunow & Ellen Verbakel, 2017. "Social Policies and Families in Stress: Gender and Educational Differences in Work–Family Conflict from a European Perspective," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 132(3), pages 1281-1305, July.
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