European Network for the Sociological and
Demographic Studies of Divorce
Are step families’ couples more egalitarian?
Gender gap in labor market
participation in Spain
Jordi Gumà
Iñaki Permanyer
Rocio Treviño
jguma@ced.uab.es
inaki.permanyer@uab.es
rtrevino@ced.uab.es
This work is part of the research project “Hogares de familias reconstituidas y equidad de
género : ¿nuevas paradojas?” and should be considered as a product of the Spanish R+D
project 2008-2011. (Ref. CSO2008-00654).
A Basic definition
• A step family (or reconstituted family) is a
married or cohabiting couple living in the
same household in which one or both
members of the couple have children from a
previous relationship.
Main goals
• Study and compare the socio-demographic
profile of reconstituted vs non-reconstituted
families.
• Study gender inequality patterns within
reconstituted couples and compare them w.r.t.
non-reconstituted ones.
– Labor market participation.
– Domestic work
• Cross national comparisons.
Motivation
• The emergence of step families is an
increasingly widespread phenomenon.
• Children’s well-being.
In this presentation
• Study and compare the socio-demographic
profile of reconstituted vs non-reconstituted
families.
• Study gender inequality patterns within
reconstituted couples and compare them w.r.t.
non-reconstituted ones.
– Labor market participation.
– Domestic work
• Cross national comparisons.
Cross-national comparisons:
Identification problems
• Most countries’ censuses do not have explicit
questions to identify reconstituted families.
• For those countries with explicit questions
(Italy, Portugal, US) we don’t get reliable
results either.
• Main Problem: Step families are hard to
identify, highly heterogeneous, making
international comparisons particularly
difficult.
The Spanish case
• Data Sources:
– 2001 Census Round.
– EPA (Encuesta de Población Activa: Spanish Labour
force survey)
• Other surveys have too small samples
Socio-demographic profile
• Absolute and relative number of reconstituted
families in Spain according to different
variables:
– Who brings the children
– Marriage vs consensual union
– Civil status
– Age
– Education
– Nationality
– Labor market participation
Percent of reconstituted families over biparental
families with children, Spain 1999-2009
% over total number of couples with children
5
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
Authors’ calculations based on EPA data
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
Profiles (I)
155.220
71.440
6.500
126.300
82.580
38.940
4.780
106.860
72.640
32.500
1.720
Authors’ calculations based on 2001 Census data
Profiles (II)
100
Reconstituted families
distribution according to who
brings the children from a
previous relationship.
Authors’ calculations using
Spanish 2001 Census microdata.
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Women
Men
Both
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Women
Men
Both
Total
Reconstituted
Percentage of reconstituted
families with common children
according to who brings the
children from a previous
relationship.
Authors’ calculations using
Spanish 2001 Census microdata.
Profiles (III)
100
90
80
70
60
Both
50
Man
Woman
40
30
20
10
0
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
Authors’ calculations based on EPA data
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
Consensual Union levels
60
50
40
30
Woman brings
children
20
Man brings
children
Total
reconstituted
10
0
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
60
50
40
No common children
30
With common children
Total
20
10
0
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Authors’ calculations based on EPA data
Civil Status
1.4
1.2
Other
2.7
3.4
He sep./div., she single
5.9
5.7
She / He widow
3.0
Both single
14.8
9.1
She sep./div., he single
12.2
9.1
11.0
Both separated/divorced
68.6
Both married
51.7
0
10
20
30
40
Epa 2001
Authors’ calculations based on EPA data
50
Epa 2009
60
70
80
Age distribution (I)
Authors’ calculations based on 2009 EPA data
Age distribution (II)
Authors’ calculations based on 2009 EPA data
Age heterogamy
Non-reconst
Woman 5 or more years older
Total reconst
Age difference less than 5 yrs
Man brings ch
Man 5 or more years older
Woman brings ch
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Authors’ calculations based on 2009 EPA data
100
Education
Men
Women
100
90
80
70
University education
60
Secondary education
50
Primary education
Primary non completed
40
Illiterate
30
20
10
0
Woman brings ch Man brings ch
Woman brings ch Man brings ch
Authors’ calculations based on 2009 EPA data
Nationality
100
90
80
70
Both foreigners
60
50
She foreigner, he
Spaniard
40
She Spaniard, he
foreigner
30
20
Both Spaniards
10
0
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
Authors’ calculations based on 2009 EPA data
2007
2008
2009
Women’s activity rates (I)
100
90
80
70
60
Reconstituidas
50
No reconstituidas
40
30
20
10
0
20--24
25-29
30-34
35-39
40-44
45-49
50-54
55-59
60-64
Authors’ calculations using Spanish 2001 Census microdata.
Women’s activity rates (II)
100
90
80
70
60
Mujer aporta hijos
50
Hombre Aporta hijos
Ambos aportan hijos
40
30
20
10
0
20--24 25-29
30-34
35-39
40-44
45-49
50-54
55-59
60-64
Authors’ calculations using Spanish 2001 Census microdata.
Conclusions and Future research (I)
• Reconstituted families have heterogeneous
sociodemographic profiles, so they can not be
treated as a single entity.
• This heterogeneity might be due to the many
ways in which reconstituted families can be
constructed. In the future, it would be
desirable to use biographical analysis.
Conclusions and Future research (II)
• Cross sectional analysis shows that women
bringing their children to a reconstituted
family have lower social capital (in terms of
education and labour market participation)
than their monoparental counterparts.
• Women in reconstituted families have a higher
labour market participation than women with
children in non-reconstituted families.
• Future research: explore gender differences
between reconstituted and non-reconstituted
families w.r.t. domestic work.
European Network for the Sociological and
Demographic Studies of Divorce
Are step families’ couples more egalitarian?
Gender gap in labor market
participation in Spain
Jordi Gumà
Iñaki Permanyer
Rocio Treviño
jguma@ced.uab.es
inaki.permanyer@uab.es
rtrevino@ced.uab.es
This work is part of the research project “Hogares de familias reconstituidas y equidad de
género : ¿nuevas paradojas?” and should be considered as a product of the Spanish R+D
project 2008-2011. (Ref. CSO2008-00654).