More time parenting in Spain: a possible change towards gender equality?

ABSTRACT

Several studies have reported that time spent by fathers on childcare has increased in recent years. This paper focuses on the involvement of Spanish fathers and mothers in childcare and it explores the socio-demographic reasons behind changes in parental time use. To this end, it analyzes couples with children under 12 in Spain, using data from the Time Use Surveys carried out in 2002–2003 and 2009–2010. The results reveal that greater male involvement in care is related to the education level and employment status of both partners, although independently. In other words, it is the socioeconomic situation of the caregiver and not of their partner that influences their participation. The paper concludes that the increasing involvement of men in childcare is not directly related to an improved gender-equal distribution of paid work and care work.

KEYWORDS:

• Paternity
• childcare
• time use
• gender equality
• work

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Other authors focus on the economic crisis in order to explain how the austerity measures of the Spanish government have unintended negative consequences for gender equality policies related to childcare time (Lombardo, 2013). Considering the importance of this macro approach, we propose an analysis from a micro approach.

2 For further information on both surveys see: http://www.ine.es/jaxi/menu.do?type=pcaxis&path=%2Ft25%2Fe447&file=inebase&L=0.

3 In all tables, the unit of analysis shown is hours per day.

4 The variable income has not been included in the models, first because it was not homogeneously collected in the two surveys and, second, because it has a significant number of missing cases.

5 In the design of the sample and following the harmonised European time-use survey, INE considered that Friday, Saturday and Sunday were days of greater variability in the use of time. For this reason, it strengthened the sample of housing in these three days.

6 Other variables that the literature identifies as interesting, such as income level, are not well reflected in the two surveys.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad [Grant Number CSO2016-78715-R].