Are Voluntarily Childless Men Judged More Harshly than Women?

Ivett Szalma , Centre for Social Sciences- Hungarian Academy of Sciences Centre of Excellence
Maria Letizia Tanturri, University of Padova

Across Europe there is an increasing number of individuals who voluntarily remain childless . However, concomitant with the childlessness rates, the attitudes towards voluntary childless people differ both within and across countries. A previous study based on the European Social Survey (ESS) data from 2006 found that approval of voluntary childlessness was the highest in Northern and Western European countries, while the approval rates were the lowest in Eastern European countries (Merz - Liefbroer 2012). Furthermore, it was also revealed that men who choose not to have children face more disapproval than women (Rijken - Merz 2014). The goal of this research is to further examine the attitudes towards voluntary childlessness and explore which individual and country level variables have affected them, and whether the double standards favouring women still exist. In order to answer these questions, we conducted multilevel analysing based on the latest available round of the European Social Survey involving 27 countries which offers information on 44 341 respondents. Our results are in line with those of previous research that found that men are more strictly judged than women if they remain voluntarily childless. Moreover, voluntary childlessness is more accepted in countries with low gender inequality than in countries with high gender equality.

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 Presented in Session P1. Postercafe