Sharing professional and household duties within the Polish couples - preferences and real choices

Anna Matysiak, Institute of Statistics and Demography, Warsaw School of Economics

The objective of the paper is to answer the question what family model with respect to the share of professional and household duties Poland is heading for. It was done through the analysis of the preferences and practices of the Poles, paying attention to the policy regulations determining their choices. The data used comes from Labour Force Survey and Population Policy Acceptance Study conducted in 2001 on LFS subsample. Synthetic variables were constructed describing following family models: male breadwinner, sequential male breadwinner, modernised male breadwinner, dual earner-female double burden, dual earner-dual carer. Although the most preferred model is the dual earner-dual carer, the most often achieved are dual earner-female double burden and male breadwinner. Being a parent increases both, the preference for and the incidence of the male breadwinner, which means that in reality sequential male breadwinner is widely practiced. This model is also strongly supported by the state policy.