Peer-reviewed article
Women's Domestic Burden and Gendered Fertility Intentions in Italy: The Role of Parity and Child's Sex.
García-Pereiro T, Mencarini L, Patimo R, Tanturri ML ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This peer-reviewed study examines how the unequal distribution of household chores in Italy relates to women's intentions to have children. Using data from a 2016 national survey, the researchers found that women with greater domestic burdens were less likely to want to become mothers, while mothers of daughters with higher household burdens were more likely to want additional children. The findings suggest that gender inequality in housework may discourage fertility, particularly among working women in central and northern Italy.
Key points
- The association between domestic burden and fertility intentions was found only for women, not men
- Childless women with higher domestic burden showed lower intentions to enter motherhood
- Mothers with one daughter showed positive correlation between household burden and intention to have more children
- The effect was particularly pronounced among working women in Centre-North Italy
- The pattern suggests traditional mothers of daughters may seek another child while more egalitarian mothers feel content with one daughter
Limitations
This study examines fertility intentions rather than actual fertility outcomes, so it cannot tell us whether these intentions translate into actual reproductive behaviour. The cross-sectional design cannot establish causation, only associations, and the findings are specific to Italy's cultural and economic context in 2016.
Abstract
In Italy, the unequal distribution of household chores persists, disproportionately affecting women and potentially discouraging fertility intentions. This study explores the relationship between women's domestic burden and reproductive intentions, and how this relationship varies between men and women, depending on the parity achieved and the sex of the child (or children) they already had. The paper relies on data from 2016 ISTAT Survey on Families and Social Subjects. The results find this association only for women (and not for men), and particularly for those working and residing in the Centre-North. Interestingly, unlike previous findings, as the childless women's domestic burden grows, it correlates negatively with their intention to enter motherhood. For mothers, the correlation is somewhat reversed: notably, among mothers with one child, there's a discernible trend where fertility intentions positively align with increasing household burdens, driven by mothers of one daughter. This suggests a potential preference among traditional mothers of a daughter for having another child, while the more egalitarian, i.e., less burdened ones, seem content with the current family size after having a daughter.