Household employment patterns in an enlarged European Union

Our aim is to contribute to better understanding of why different practices relating to the division of paid labour by sex in couple households are still to be found in different parts of Europe. We analyse data on the distribution of dominant household employment patterns in eight countries: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Using comparative survey evidence for a large total sample (N = 10, 123), we examine how national differences in terms of the gender division of paid work correspond with predictions drawn from well-established structuralist and culturalist theories of the determinants of cross-country variations. The findings call for a further elaboration of conventional approaches to explaining gendered employment patterns in an enlarged Europe.