Does what the man studies affect what he does at home? Field of education and gender division of housework and childcare in Norway, Austria and Poland

Abstract

Using data from the Generations and Gender Survey, this studyexplores the association between men’sfields of education and thegender division of unpaid work among co-residential heterosexualcouples in Norway, Austria and Poland. Fathers’relativecontribution to childcare is higher than it is to domestic work in allthree countries, suggesting that men have increasingly becomemore involved fathers than egalitarian partners. Moreover, the scantcontribution to housework is lower for men when they are fathersin Austria and in Poland, not in Norway. Also the impact of thefieldof education is context-embedded. Although the results are notclear-cut and diverge among countries, men choosing‘softer’,morenurture-oriented and more female-dominatedfields tend to exhibita more symmetrical division of housework and childcare. Theseassociations persist after controlling for his and her labour-marketposition, suggesting thatfield of education captures somethingmore than time availability, cost opportunity and monetary returns.Yet Polish men are those most differentiated by level andfield ofeducation. In Poland, gender segregation in education is high, andsupport for the dual earner-dual carer model is still very low bothinstitutionally and culturally, so that men studying in typicallyfemalefields are highly selected.