Main Breadwinner Women in Hungary and Their Work-family Balance Related Coping Strategies

Authors

  • Mária Neményi
  • Judit Takács

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17356/ieejsp.v2i3.170
Abstract Views: 1576 PDF Downloads: 530

Abstract

In this study, being the first Hungarian qualitative study devoted to this subject, we focus on the work-life balance situation of Hungarian women acting as main breadwinners within their family. The empirical base of our study consisted of 22 in-depth interviews conducted with Hungarian mothers of dependent children younger than 14, living in (heterosexual) couple households, who bring in at least 60% of the total household earnings. We examined how the main breadwinner role might affect the gender norm expectations acquired during socialisation, the division of domestic labour and child care duties between the partners, as well as the internal power relations of the couple.

According to our findings, various versions of work-life balance management could be identified even within our small-scale qualitative sample on the basis of two main dimensions.

On the one hand, on the basis of our interviewees’ accounts we examined whether the partners had similar role expectations in terms of egalitarian sharing of family related tasks or traditionally gendered role specialisation. On the other hand, we have also considered to what extent other contextual factors contributed to women becoming primary breadwinners, and whether these were perceived in terms of external constraints or preferred choices (or both). On the basis of our analyses we have identified four models of family relations in the context of primary female breadwinning: the traditional, the egalitarian, the externally forced role reversal and the consciously implemented role reversal models.

References

Atkinson, M.P. and Boles J. (1984) WASP (Wives as Senior Partners). Journal of Marriage and Family, 46(4):861-870.

Becker, G.S. (1981) A Treatise on the Family. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Blaskó Zs. (2006) Nők és férfiak – keresőmunka, házimunka. Budapest: KSH Népességtudományi Kutatóintézet (KSH NKI Kutatási jelentései 82.)

Bloemen, H. and Stancanelli, E. (2007) A model of female breadwinnership. Is she outearning him? Toulouse: European Economic Association & Econometric

Society.http://www.eea-esem.com/files/papers/EEA-ESEM/2007/1333/breadmod-1.pdf

Bloemen, H. and Stancanelli E. (2015) Toyboys or Supergirls? An analysis of partners’ employment outcomes when she outearns him. Review of Economics of

the Household, 13(3):501-530. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11150-013-9212-y

Brines, J. (1994) Economic Dependency, Gender, and the Division of Labor at Home. American Journal of Sociology, 100(3):652–88.

Chesley, N. (2011) Stay-at-home Fathers and Breadwinning Mothers. Gender, Couple Dynamics, and Social Change, Gender & Society, 25(5):642-664. doi:

http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0891243211417433

Craig, L. and Mullan K. (2011) How Mothers and Fathers Share Childcare: A Cross- national Time-Use Comparison. American Sociological Review, 76(6): 834-

doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0003122411427673

Deutsch, F.M. (2007) Undoing gender. Gender & Society, 21(1):106-27. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0891243206293577

Doucet, A. ( 2004) “It’s almost like I have a job, but I don’t get paid”: Fathers at home reconfiguring work, care, and masculinity. Fathering, 2 (3): 277-303.

doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.3149/fth.0203.277

Drago, R., Black, D. and Wooden, M. (2005) Female breadwinner families: their existence, persistence and sources, Journal of Sociology, 41(4)343-362. doi:

http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1440783305058465

Esping-Andersen, G. (2009) The Incomplete Revolution. Adapting to Women’s New Roles. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Gal, S. and Kligman G. (2000) The politics of gender after socialism: A comparative-historical essay. Princeton, JJ: Princeton University Press.

Hobson, B. and Fahlén, S. (2009) ‘Competing Scenarios for European Fathers: Applying Sen’s Capabilities and Agency Framework to Work-Family Balance’. The

ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 624: 214–233. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0002716209334435

Hobson, B., Fahlén, S. and Takács J. (2011) Agency and Capabilities to Achieve a Work-Life Balance: A Comparison of Sweden and Hungary. Social Politics,

(2):168-198. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/sp/jxr007

Hobson, B. and Oláh, L. (2006) Birthstrikes? Agency and Capabilities in the Reconciliation of Employment and Family. Marriage and Family Review, 39: 197–

doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/J002v39n03_01

Keizer R. and Komter A. (2015) Are “Equals” Happier Than “Less Equals”? A Couple Analysis of Similarity and Well-being. Journal of Marriage and Family,

(4): 954-967. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12194

Klesment, M. and Van Bavel, J. (2015) The Reversal of the Gender Gap in Education and Female Breadwinners in Europe. Leuven: FamiliesAndSocieties

Working Paper Series 26. http://www.familiesandsocieties.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/WP26KlesmentVanBavel.pdf

Milkie, M. A., Kendig, S. M., Nomaguchi, K.M. and Denny, K. E. (2010) Time with Children, Children’s Well-Being, and Work-Family Balance among Employed

Parents, Journal of Marriage and Family, 72,(5):1329-1343. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2010.00768.x

Munsch, C. L. (2015) Her Support, His Support: Money, Masculinity, and Marital Infidelity American Sociological Review 80(3): 469–495. doi:

http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0003122415579989

Nagy B. (2014) Háttérben. Budapest: L’Harmattan

Nagy B. (2016) Ki áll a sikeres nő mögött? (Who is behind successful women?) Socio.hu Társadalomtudományi Szemle 6(2):117-141. doi:

http://dx.doi.org/10.18030/socio.hu.2016.2.117

Neményi M, Ferencz Z, Laki I, Ságvári B, Takács J, Tardos K, and Tibori T (2013) Az egyenlő bánásmóddal kapcsolatos jogtudatosság növekedésének

elemzése 2010-2013 között – fókuszban a nők, a romák, a fogyatékos és az LMBT emberek. Budapest: Egyenlő Bánásmód Hatóság.

http://egyenlobanasmod.hu/tamop/data/EBH_7_kiadvany_Final_20130619.pdf

OECD Family Database (2015) http://www.oecd.org/els/family/database.htm Last accessed: 2016-02-29

Puur, A., Livia Oláh, L., Tazi-Preve M. and Dorbritz J. (2008) Men’s Childbearing Desires and Views of the Male Role in Europe at the Dawn of the 21st Century.

Demographic Research, 19:1883–1912. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4054/DemRes.2008.19.56

Radhakrishnan, S. and Solari, C. (2015) Empowered Women, Failed Patriarchs: Neoliberalism and Global Gender Anxieties. Sociology Compass, 9(9):784–802.

Raley, S.B., Mattingly, M.J. and Bianchi S.M. (2006) How Dual Are Dual-Income Couples? Documenting Change from 1970 to 2001. Journal of Marriage and

Family, (68(1): 11-28. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2006.00230.x

Silverstein, L.B. and Auerbach, C.F. (1999) Deconstructing the essential father. American Psychologist, 54(6): 397–407.

Schoen, R., Rogers, S. J. and Amato, P. R. (2006) Wives’ employment and spouses’ marital happiness: Assessing the direction of influence using longitudinal

couple data. Journal of Family Issues, 27: 506–528. DOI: 10.1177/0192513X05283983

Sussman, D. and Bonnell, S. (2006) Wives as primary breadwinners. Perspectives on labour and income 7(8):10-17.

Takács J. (2008) “Ha mosogatógép nem lenne, már elváltunk volna...” – Férfiak és nők otthoni munkamegosztása európai összehasonlításban, Esély, (6): 51-

Takács J. (2013) Unattainable desires? Childbearing capabilities in early 21st century Hungary. 179-206. In: Livia Sz. Oláh and Ewa Fratczak (eds.)

Childbearing, Women’s Employment and Work-Life Balance Policies in Contemporary Europe. Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke and New York.

Tardos K. (2012) Magyarországi trendek a munkahelyi esélyegyenlőség alakulásában, Munkaügyi Szemle, 56(2): 44-51.

Thébaud, S. (2010) Masculinity, Bargaining, and Breadwinning. Understanding Men’s Housework in the Cultural Context of Paid Work. Gender & Society, 24(3):

-354. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0891243210369105

Yavorsky, J.E., Kamp Dush C.M., and Schoppe-Sullivan, S.J. (2015) The Production of Inequality: The Gender Division of Labor Across the Transition to

Parenthood, Journal of Marriage and Family, 77: 662–679. DOI:10.1111/jomf.12189

West, C. and Zimmerman, D.H. (1987) Doing Gender. Gender & Society, 1(2): 125-151. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0891243287001002002

Winkler, A. E., McBride, T. and Andrews, C. (2005) Wives Who Outearn Their Husbands: A Transitory Or Persistent Phenomenon, Demography, 42(4): 525-535.

Downloads

Published

2016-09-27

How to Cite

[1]
Neményi, M. and Takács, J. 2016. Main Breadwinner Women in Hungary and Their Work-family Balance Related Coping Strategies. Intersections. East European Journal of Society and Politics. 2, 3 (Sep. 2016). DOI:https://doi.org/10.17356/ieejsp.v2i3.170.

Issue

Section

Work-life balance/imbalance: Individual, Organizational and Social Experiences