This paper analyses female migrant worker's labour mobility in Spain and Sweden by using data from the Spanish National Immigrant Survey 2007 (NIS) and the Swedish Level of Living Survey for foreign-born and their children 2010 (LNU-UFB). We examine to what extent the different institutional contexts promote or obstruct the labour mobility of immigrant women in the two countries with different migration and employment regimes. First, to identify different patterns of economic integration, we analyse the labour market entry among women who started in the care and cleaning sector, in which female migrants have acquired a special role in both countries. Secondly, we investigate what factors influences sector mobility among female migrants who started in care/cleaning jobs, and the mobility into this sector. The results show that the entry into the labour market is faster in Spain than in Sweden, and that the ethnic niche of the care/cleaning sector is more evident in Spain. The results also suggest that upward mobility (from care/cleaning job sector into professional/clerk jobs) is more feasible for migrant women in Sweden, especially if they have required country-specific human capital, and that migrant women in Spain are more likely to move into the care/cleaning job sector (regardless of education and region of origin), which reflect the higher demand for care/cleaning workers in Spain. We conclude that the two institutional contexts shape opportunities for upward and lateral mobility differently for migrant women depending on their educational level and region of origin.

BACKGROUND

The demographic challenge Europe is facing due to long-term low fertility, accompanied by pronounced economic uncertainty, indicates the need for adequate policy response based on a thorough understanding of the economic uncertainty-fertility decisions-public policy nexus.

OBJECTIVE

We address the relationship between societal economic conditions, individual economic uncertainty, and short-term first-birth intentions of women and men in ten European countries, representing various institutional contexts before and after the Great Recession.

METHODS

We analyse European Social Survey data from 2004 and 2011. After addressing the macro-level association, we study the micro-level relationship in regard to perceived security of employment and income situation, based on multiple logistic regression models.

RESULTS

Societal economic uncertainty is negatively associated with short-term parenthood intentions, especially for men. Regarding subjective economic security, men's labour market position matters irrespectively of the institutional context, but women's labour market position matters at younger ages only and in particular welfare regimes (the Postsocialist and Familialistic regimes). Perceived income security is less important at higher ages for either gender and for women below age 30, especially in the aftermath of the crisis. Men in their early thirties show the lowest fatherhood intentions in a constrained situation.

CONTRIBUTION

Our findings highlight the continued importance of economic uncertainty for fertility plans, especially for men, who still seem to consider themselves as the primary earner in couples. For young employed women, a secure position is a precondition for first birth, but motherhood appears as attractive alternative to unemployment above age 30, except for Postsocialist and Universal clusters.

BACKGROUND Dual-earner families are widespread in contemporary Europe, yet the division of housework is highly gendered, with women still bearing the lion's share. However, women in dual-career couples and in other types of non-traditional couples, across and within different European countries, appear to handle the division of housework differently. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study is to examine the division of housework among various couple-earner types, by determining i) whether relative resources, time spent on paid work, gender attitudes, and family structure reduce variations in housework between different couple types, and ii) whether the division of housework varies between countries with different work. family policies and gender norms. METHODS The study uses data from ten countries, representing different welfare regime types, extracted from the European Social Survey (2010/11), and employs multivariate regressions and aggregated analysis of the association between the division of housework and the contextual indices. RESULTS The results show that dual-career couples divide housework more equally than dualearner couples, relating more to the fact that the former group of women do less housework in general, rather than that men are doing more. The cross-national analysis shows tangible differences between dual-earner and dual-career couples; however, the difference is less marked with respect to the division of housework in countries with more institutional support for work. family reconciliation and less traditional gender norms. CONTRIBUTION By combining conventional economic and gender-based approaches with an institutional framework, this study contributes to the research field by showing that the division of housework within different couple-earner types is contextually embedded.

This study focuses the division of housework among various couple earner types in ten European countries, using data from the European Social Survey, and examines if relative resources, time availability and gender ideology moderate this association. The study combines the conventional economic and gender based approaches with an institutional framework on work-family reconciliation policies and gender norms to examine if the division of housework is institutionally embedded. The result shows that dual-career couples, female-career couples and female single-earner couples divide the housework more equal than dual-earner couples. This relates to the fact that women do less housework. The cross-national analysis show apparent differences between dual-earner and dual-career couples, yet the result reveals smaller gender difference in the division of housework in countries with more institutional support for work-family reconciliation and less traditional gender norms, suggesting that couples decisions on how to divide the housework are institutionally embedded.

This article examines gender differences in work-to-home conflict (WHC) and home-to-work conflict (HWC) in 10 European countries and considers to what extent such differences can be linked to the institutional/societal context. This study combines the conventional demand-resource approach and an institutional framework on work–family reconciliation policies and gender norms by using data from the European Social Survey. The analyses reveal that work and home demands affect men’s and women’s perceived conflict somewhat differently, and that the two conflict dimensions are gender asymmetrical and linked to patterns that result from men’s and women’s traditional home and work spheres. This cross-country comparative analysis shows greater gender gap in perceived conflict in countries with weaker policy support for work–family reconciliation and more traditional gender norms suggesting that individuals’ perceptions of WHC and HWC are institutionally embedded.

This article investigates the association between economic uncertainties, work-family reconciliation policies and women’s short-term childbearing intentions in ten European countries. I introduce the Capability Approach to this issue and argue that short-term childbearing intentions are an indicator of women’s capabilities to start a family or to have additional children. Data from the European Social Survey is used. The analysis reveals that the association between economic uncertainties and short-term childbearing varies by the number of children already born, education and institutional contexts. Being in paid work have a positive impact on childless women’s short-term intentions in some countries, while in other countries, unemployed childless women are those most likely to intend to have a child in the near future. Other aspects of economic uncertainties, namely perceived job and income insecurity, have a negative impact on short-term childbearing intentions, regardless of motherhood status. The analysis also shows that the combination of weaker institutional support for work-family reconciliation, perceived job and income insecurity and low educational skills are associated with lower childbearing intentions, but the pattern across the ten countries varies by motherhood status, and is slightly more evident for childless women. This study has shown the importance of embedding individual decision processes in a broader social societal context.

This book has addressed the interplay between childbearing and work and welfare, more specifically female employment and work-life balance policies, in contemporary Europe. Along with increasing scholarly interest in the topic, demographic and economic sustainability has been high on the agenda in European policymaking given substantial cross-country variations in fertility levels in the past decades, (well) below what is necessary for the replacement of the population (that is 2.05 children per woman) and not speeding up societal ageing. Focusing on childbearing choices (intentions mainly, but even desires), considered as influential predictors of future fertility, our research team has examined the importance of labour force participation on young women’s fertility plans in the context of increasing labour market flexibility in various work-life balance policy settings. We have studied five countries, two high-fertility and three low-fertility societies representing different welfare regime/policy configuration types. Our two high-fertility societies, Sweden and France, belong to different policy regimes, the former being the prime case of the Dual-Earner, and the latter belonging to the General Family Support policy configuration type to which even Germany, a low-fertility regime country belongs. The other two low-fertility societies we have studied, Poland and Hungary, represent the Transition Post-Socialist cluster.

As Europe is facing a demographic challenge that in the long run jeopardizes economic growth and sustainable development, we need to deepen our understanding on the interplay of economic and reproductive aspirations and the public policy nexus. With this book we seek to shed more light on the role of increased labour market flexibility and of work-life balance policies for combining family and employment in relation to childbearing choices (intentions, desires) in different fertility and welfare regimes across Europe in the early 21st century. We rely on two key concepts : uncertainty and risk, and incoherence that provide a common platform for the five country studies addressing the tensions young women and couples face making choices about childbearing and paid work in specific institutional contexts.