Gender and Family in Motion: Parental Arrangements

In her upcoming research, Gerlinde Mauerer conducts interviews with parents in Austria. She inquires into arrangements that parents have made for sharing childcare and paid work and about the arrangements between parents after the birth of a child. The research also focuses on evaluating a new childcare allowance model in Austria in effect since March 2017. This new childcare allowance model sets up a partnership account including a payment of 500 Euros per parent when parents claim roughly the same percentage of the childcare allowance period (50:50 or 60:40 percent). The interviews include fathers and mothers from all provinces, and of all income levels. Women in Austria have, on average, lower incomes than men, therefore, more mothers than fathers receive childcare benefits. Furthermore, since previous studies have shown that the share of fathers in the income-related form of childcare allowance are higher than in other forms, the research includes parents from all income groups and all regions. Empirical research is also done on workplace conditions and additional challenges that parents face in peripheral regions. The data for the study is derived from two types of interviews. First, couple interviews with parents, and second, at a later stage of the research, individual interviews with fathers and mothers on their career development. Specific challenges that parents face in their careers and in balancing work and family, which may have intensified due to the Covid-19 pandemic, are part of the forthcoming interviews. Previous research results from Gerlinde Mauerer (2013 to 2015) will be included, as the new results will be compared with previous ones, focusing on the consequences of the Covid19- pandemic on parents work conditions and their reconciliation of work and family. In conclusion, these empirical and theoretical findings in the fields of sociology of the family and gender research will be discussed internationally. Moreover, focus will be on evaluating and promoting family, gender, and social policy regulations. During the research, Visiting Fellowships at the University College London (UCL), University of York (both UK), and the Institute of Social Sciences at the University of Lisbon (Portugal) are planned, with the goal of analyzing research results at an intermediary stage and discussing them from both sociological and gender theoretical perspectives. The research provides data on the uptake of childcare benefits in Austria since the introduction of a new model in March 2017, including couples from all income groups and all regions of Austria. It focuses on economic and regional differences in parents` opportunities to share childcare and paid work. It provides data reviewing the current Austrian childcare benefit model and discusses scientific results in cooperation with international researchers in two fields: sociology of the family and gender research.