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Women’s freedom to choose whether to have children or not is the first
indicator examined. Attitudes towards this issue are consensually favour-
able across the three countries and in both cohorts. But even if in all
countries individuals overwhelmingly support women’s freedom to
decide, Swiss citizens are more likely to dissociate women and mother-
hood. As far as gender effects are concerned, while women everywhere
tend to see the option of having children as a woman’s prerogative, the
gap between genders is larger in Portugal and Lithuania than in
Switzerland, where men’s and women’s opinions are more alike.
We have already highlighted the different levels and prevailing modali-
ties of female participation in the labour market in these countries, with
higher full-time female employment in Lithuania and Portugal and
mostly part-time employment in Switzerland. Does this reflect prevailing
attitudes towards gender roles within these countries? The analysis reveals
sharp contrasts concerning the unambiguous statement A man’s job is to
earn money; a woman’s job is to look after the home and family. Both the
Swiss and the Portuguese are very unlikely to agree with this view, while
most Lithuanians tend to agree. Comparison between cohorts shows that
this assessment is evolving to more egalitarian role ascription in all coun-
tries. Nevertheless, younger Lithuanians remain much in favour of a gen-
dered division of labour close to the traditional model, even though they
mostly follow a dual-earner model. Gender differences relating to this
matter are negligible in Switzerland. In both Portugal and Lithuania,
men are more likely than women to endorse a gendered division of work
according to traditional models. Interestingly, there is some level of
inconsistency between attitudes and work practices, especially in
Lithuania and Switzerland. The Swiss show strong opposition towards a
patriarchal view, while many women work part time. Conversely, patriar-
chal views are more prevalent in Lithuania, where the dual-earner model
prevails. Reasons for this inconsistency may be found not only in income
levels in each country, which allow many Swiss families to opt for the
one-and-half-earner model, but especially in the scope and ideological
underpinnings of the Welfare States, which impact the public provision
of childcare services (low in both countries).
On the issue of the gendered division of work, we also looked at the
compatibility of female employment and motherhood. Results show that
V. Ramos et al.