The Changing Role of Father in Europe

Simona Carrozza, Università La Sapienza
Paola Di Giulio, Università La Sapienza

The roles of the parents in the contemporary families are gradually changing. The social-economic characteristics of the members of the family, the availability of public services and cultural norms can influence the spreading of new parents roles arrangements. This paper analyzes the sharing of care activities between the parents in Europe. Data from the Fertility and Family Surveys (coordinated by UNECE in selected countries in the 90s) and from the Italian Multipurpose Surveys of the 90s are utilized. The activities taken into account are the instrumental ones (preparing children's meals, getting them dressed, looking after them when ill, helping them with the homework, playing with them). Finally, we consider social-economic characteristics of both parents and of the family, as determinants of father's participation in parental roles, by means of a multivariate analysis.