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Unequal divisions of paid work and care among new parents contribute to increasing inequalities. One explanation for this is joint utility maximization and the benefits of partners (temporarily) specializing in paid work and care. This paper examines the (dis)advantages of specializing compared to dividing tasks more equally by studying whether differences in specialization between same-sex and different-sex couples lead to differences in household earnings after entering parenthood. Using register data from Norway, Finland, Denmark, and Sweden and examining first-time parents, we show that female couples have a more equal within-couple income development during the transition to parenthood than different-sex couples do. However, we find no differences in household income (including or excluding social transfers) between the two types of couples. Although a more equal task division may be preferred from an individual perspective, our results show no evidence of a “best strategy” when it comes to maximizing household income.

Objective: The purpose of the study is to contribute to an understanding of the cultural and normative meaning of birth motherhood and how lesbian couples decide who carries the child. Background: The decision of who carries the child is central in lesbian family-making, carrying consequences for life after birth. Even so, it has been relatively overlooked in research. Drawing from the sociology of personal life and Park's (2013) conceptualization of monomaternalism, we study how informants consider and decide birth motherhood. Method: Semistructured interviews with both partners in 21 pregnant lesbian couples in the Netherlands were thematically analyzed. Results: The meaning of birth motherhood was ambivalent, linked to femininity, socially recognized motherhood, and biogenetic imaginaries. In couples where both wanted to carry, age, which carried different symbolic meanings, was a powerful tiebreaker. Conclusion: Our study shows how the monomaternalist norm shapes conceptualizations of birth motherhood. Desires to experience pregnancy are strong for many. Referring to age can be a way for couples to defuse tension, but it can also be a resource drawn upon to close further negotiations. Implications: Our study carries implications for policy makers, health care workers, and mothers-to-be. Scholarly, it illuminates the ways in which motherhood, in its various forms, is perceived and recognized.

This chapter discusses theories and research on social stratification by gender, focusing on wage and earnings inequalities. The first part describes changes over time in gendered economic inequalities and discusses the various theories used to account for the gender pay gap from demand-side and supply-side perspectives. The division of paid and unpaid work changes considerably when couples have children. The second part of the chapter discusses research on the earnings gap and the theories aimed at explaining why the majority of women, and rarely men, take the parental leave and reduce their work hours when children are young. Finally, the chapter teases out the relevance of these theories by comparing how the transition to parenthood links to relative income development in female same-sex and different-sex couples in the Nordic countries. Findings suggest that the doing of gender and identity formation may be the most important factors explaining birth mothers’ relative earnings development., GENPARENT

Objective: The aim of the study was to analyze factors predicting (a) the transition to parenthood for female same‐sex couples in Sweden and (b) which partner is the birth mother for the first and (any) second child. Background: Longitudinal studies in which couples become parents are rare for same‐sex couples in any context, even though these families are increasing. Childbearing in lesbian couples is an interesting case for testing theories linked to family utility maximization and household bargaining, as these couples can often choose who will carry a child. Method: Discrete‐time event history and linear probability models are estimated on Swedish population register data (1995–2016) to analyze couples' transitions to first and second birth and the choice of birth mother. Results: The higher the household income and partners' educational levels, the more likely couples are to become parents. However, within‐couple income gaps are small, and income and education are unrelated to the choice of first‐birth mother. Couples are more likely to have a second child and to switch birth mothers if both are highly educated or the first social mother is highly educated. Conclusion: Factors predicting which couples become parents are similar in same‐sex and different‐sex couples. In same‐sex couples, short‐term within‐couple specialization is of little relevance for who becomes the birth mother. Analyses of the transition to a second birth suggest that long‐term planning matters for who becomes the first‐ and second‐birth mother.

This article applies a couple perspective to assessing gender inequality in Sweden—a setting with high maternal labour force participation, a long history of family policy investment, and strong norms of gender equality. We address open questions about how couples’ earnings following parenthood have changed over time, and how patterns of inequality in couples’ earnings have played out across educational groups. Our study uses fixed effects methods and register data covering the total population of heterosexual couples giving birth in Sweden between 1987 and 2007 (N = 587,414 couples). It examines change in the female partner’s share of total couple earnings from 2 years before to 8 years after first birth across parent cohorts differentiated by his and her education. Women’s earnings share declines steeply following birth, across all groups. Results show modestly smaller declines among parents in the latest cohort in the year directly following childbirth. Change is most pronounced among couples with a highly educated female partner, and it appears driven by a marked dip in fathers’ earnings that is new to this recent generation of men. Recent movement towards within-couple equality in Sweden appears driven by men’s work adjustments, pointing to an important shift in the allocation of care work within couples.

Sweden is often considered a forerunner in family change and developments towardsless gendered family production patterns. In this study, we focus on recent developmentstowards more gender-equal sharing of parental leave in Sweden. We explore how fathers’use of parental leave has changed over time before and since the turn of the century. Asthe parental leave benefit is individual and earnings-based, we examine how fathers’ individualsocio-economic and demographic characteristics are associated with their parental leaveuptake over time, to determine whether there are forerunners and laggards in recent familychange. Multinomial logistic regression models were applied to data from national registers.Our study demonstrates a bifurcation in trends in recent decades. This is associated with theextension of reforms that reserve part of the leave for fathers, the so-called “daddy months”,but stretches beyond the impact of any such reforms. Taking a long leave of over twomonths was pioneered by better-educated residents of metropolitan areas and surroundingsuburbs, as well as Swedish-born fathers. Young fathers, low-income earners and foreign-bornfathers lagged behind in these developments. We regard the unstable labour marketsituation of the latter as a contributing factor in widening social inequalities in family-relatedbehaviour.

Working part-time can potentially be a great means of reducing work-life conflict for parents of young children. However, research has not univocally found this attenuating relation, suggesting it may not be universal, but rather contingent on other factors. This study investigates whether the relation between part-time work and work-life conflict is contingent on workplace support and gender. Results show that short part-time work (<25 h) relates to lower levels of work-life conflict for both women and men. We find some evidence that workplace support affects this relation: short part-time working women in an organization with a family supportive organizational culture had lower levels of work-life conflict than short part-time working women in organizations with an unsupportive organizational culture. For men working short part-time we find tendencies in the same direction, although this falls short of conventional statistical significance. In addition, long part-time work (25–35 h) is not significantly related to (lower) work-life conflict for either women or men. In line with previous research, managerial support is found to be linked to lower levels of work-life conflict, irrespective of whether one works full-time or part-time. Notably, the relation between working part-time and work-life conflict does not differ for mothers and fathers, suggesting that this work-family policy could help both men and women reduce work-life conflict.

This innovative book explores the different ways in which dual-earner couples in contemporary welfare states plan for, realize and justify their divisions of work and care during the transition to parenthood. Providing a unique comparative, longitudinal and qualitative analysis of new parents in eight European countries, this timely book explicitly locates couples’ beliefs and negotiations in the wider context of national institutional structures. Compelling evidence is provided, demonstrating that the ways and degrees to which new parents can realize their work-care plans and ideals systematically relate to the support structures and resources available from employers, families and the state. A key focus is on couples that act in a non-normative way compared to their national, gender cultural context. New Parents in Europe will be of great value to sociology, political science and economics scholars alike and, with its use of cutting-edge methodology, will prove to be a valuable resource for policy makers.