The persistence of gender inequalities in the distribution of unpaid work: an explanatory contribution

Abstract

This article analyses whether and to what extent gender inequalities persist in the distribution of unpaid domestic work among younger Europeans with higher education, segments of society where the ideals of gender equality are particularly present. Using data from the International Social Survey Programme, we show that this inequality persists to a significant degree, which leads us to draw up a set of hypotheses aimed at contributing to the effort to analyse this phenomenon. This framework of hypotheses draws attention to the importance of analytically considering the cultural survival, albeit in a mitigated, modified and diffuse form, of relevant aspects of the male breadwinner model.