Policy configurations and the elasticity of gendered patterns of paid and unpaid work—evidence from comparative conjoint analyses

A considerable number of scholars have discussed the role that family policies play in shaping the gendered division of labor within households. The majority of this research has focused on childcare and parental leave policies and their relationship with maternal employment. In this article, we adopt a more holistic approach to study gender-specific pathways toward more equalized work patterns by investigating the role of various family policy conditions, both past and future, on paid and unpaid work patterns among men and women. We present novel survey data from five countries, including conjoint analyses, which enables us to consider that the elasticity of households to move toward more equal divisions of work may be contingent on the gender regime in which individuals live as well as on their desire and opportunity to change. Our results demonstrate that the elasticity to change strongly depends on current work patterns both at the household and the country level. Moreover, long parental leave for men and financial incentives have the strongest potential to trigger changes in work intentions. Nevertheless, significant discrepancies in the impact of policy measures between countries, as well as between women and men, can be discerned.