Changing Gendered Attitudes Toward Childcare: Social-Economic Determinants of Understanding Family Roles Among Lithuanian Parents

Abstract

The parental choices need more explanation on how the perceptions of family gender roles could explain the differences in parental satisfaction with childcare and domestic division and what social-economic factors determine their normative attitudes. In other words, the paper analyses how families’ attitudes to childcare division are related to their socioeconomic backgrounds and normative preferences on gender roles. The paper uses the representative population survey data of Lithuania’s working-age generation cohort (34–48 years old). The main results reveal that parental preferences for childcare allocation are mostly shaped by their economic status and traditional gender roles in contrast to the country’s widely accessible active labour market and family welfare system.