A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
“A good mother can't—But a good father should?” Cross‐ and within‐country differences in attitudes toward parents' full‐time work in 26 European countries
Authors: Salin, Milla; Tammelin, Mia; Otonkorpi‐Lehtoranta, Katri; Isoniemi, Henna
Publisher: Wiley
Publication year: 2026
Journal: International Journal of Social Welfare
Article number: e70057
Volume: 35
Issue: 1
ISSN: 1369-6866
eISSN: 1468-2397
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ijsw.70057
Publication's open availability at the time of reporting: Open Access
Publication channel's open availability : Partially Open Access publication channel
Web address : https://doi.org/10.1111/ijsw.70057
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/508573650
Self-archived copy's licence: CC BY
Self-archived copy's version: Publisher`s PDF
Regardless of the rise of egalitarian parenting, maternal and paternal roles are subject to different expectations, shaped by cultural and institutional factors. We examine levels of (dis)approval of parents' full-time work in 26 European countries and ask: Do attitudes toward mothers' and fathers' full-time work vary across countries? What are the sociodemographic, cultural, and family policy-related institutional factors that explain these attitudes? To what extent can the gender arrangement framework help to understand differences in attitudes toward full-time working parents? Data from the 2018 European Social Survey was analyzed using cross-tabulation and multilevel analysis. Results reveal that the ideal of motherhood continues to be culturally more contested than that of fatherhood. Individual-level sociodemographic factors are more relevant to attitudes toward mothers' than to fathers' full-time work, while country-level factors connected to gender, work culture, and family policy are similar in their effects on attitudes toward mothers' and fathers' full-time work.
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