The uneven distribution of family responsibilities among women and men and its link with low fertility: some evidence for European Union countries from eurobarometer data

Fernando Gil Alonso, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Eurobarometer is a survey done twice a year by the European Union to know the opinion of Europeans. This survey covering all the EU Member States and the candidate countries has a very significant sample at European level. Each wave includes a series of thematic questionnaires covering diverse issues of interest for the EU policy-makers. For instance, the Standard Eurobarometer number 56.2 (2001), included a series of questions on actual and ideal fertility for EU-15. These questions were repeated the following year in the Candidate Countries: therefore results for 28 countries in total are available. Several recent Eurobarometer have also included questions on the distribution of family responsibilities among men and women. This paper analyses all these results to show if there is some relation between low fertility and tasks sharing, as women are increasing their participation in the labour market but continue being in charge of most of the reproductive tasks.