Projects
Female-Breadwinner Families in Europe
Project contributors: Vitali A,
This Project is part of the following research programme/s:
Overview
Objectives
Despite the increase of female-breadwinner families in developed countries (families in which women are the sole or main income provider), little is known about who these couples are, how and why they emerge, and what trends in female breadwinning mean for women, men and children.
This project aims to answer such questions and in so doing will contribute to the debate on gender, money and the distribution of power between men and women in couples. The project will have three main aims:
1. To provide an overview of the changing prevalence of female-breadwinner families over time and across European countries and regions
2. To examine the drivers leading to the emergence of female-breadwinner families
3. To examine the implications of the emergence of female-breadwinner families by studying a series of social and demographic outcomes relating to the lives of women, men and their children.
Methods
This research makes use of international datasets allowing for cross-national comparisons, including the Luxembourg Income Study, the European Social Survey and the International Social Survey Programme, as well as longitudinal data for the UK, including Understanding Society and the Millennium Cohort Study.
Publications & Activities
Breadwinning or on the breadline? Female breadwinners' economic characteristics across 20 welfare states
Journal of European Social Policy (2020). 31 (2) 125-142
Authors: Kowalewska H, Vitali A,
Work/Family Arrangements across the OECD: The Emergence of the Female-Breadwinner Model
BSA (2019). (University of Glasgow)
Authors: Kowalewska H, Vitali A,
Gender Differences in Couples' Matrimonial Property Regime in Italy
Journal of Marriage and Family (2019). 81 (4) 885-904
Authors: Fraboni R, Vitali A,
Becoming a female breadwinner household in Australia: differences in relationship satisfaction from equal earner and male breadwinner households
"Female-Breadwinner Families (2018). (Royal Astronomical Society, London)
Authors: Blom N,
Four decades of change in partners' relative incomes
"Female-Breadwinner Families (2018). (Royal Astronomical Society, London)
Authors: Vitali A,
Four Decades of Changes in Partners' Relative Incomes: Gender Revolution or Men's Unemployment?
Invited seminar (2018). (University of St Andrews)
Authors: Vitali A,
Gender differences in couples' matrimonial property regime in Italy
Inequality within Couples: On the origin and relevance of the Intra-household Distribution of Economic Resources (2018). (Humboldt Universität Berlin)
Authors: Fraboni R, Vitali A,
Four Decades of Changes in Partners' Relative Incomes: Gender Revolution or Men's Unemployment?
Vrije Universiteit Brussel, European Population Conference 2018 (2018). (Vrije Universiteit Brussel)
Authors: Vitali A,
The occupational and income gap between male and female breadwinners
II Convengo SISEC Il destino del lavoro tra ricerca di senso e rivoluzione digitale (2018). (Milan)
Authors: Vitali A,
The Transition to Parenthood Among Britain’s “Generation Rent”: Examining the Changing Role of Housing Tenure
International Symposium on "Partner Relationships, Residential Relocations and Housing in the Life Course" (2017). (Cologne, Germany)
Authors: Vignoli D, Berrington A, Vitali A, Tocchioni V,
Changes in Partners’ Relative Incomes and the Gender Revolution
PAA 2017 (2017). (Hilton Chicago)
Authors: Vitali A,
Why pool resources in marriage? A study on the choice of matrimonial property regime in Italy
Italian Association for Population Studies Conference 2017 (2017). (Florence)
Authors: Fraboni R, Vitali A,
Female-breadwinner families in Europe
University of Oxford Department of Sociology seminar series (2017). (Oxford)
Authors: Vitali A,
The Transition to Parenthood Among Britain’s “Generation Rent”: Examining the Changing Role of Housing Tenure
ECSR 2017 Conference (2017). (Bocconi University, Milan)
Authors: Vitali A, Berrington A, Vignioli D, Tocchioni V,
Changes in partners’ relative incomes: Gender revolution or men’s deteriorating economic circumstances?
ECSR 2017 Conference (2017). (Bocconi University, Milan)
Authors: Vitali A,
Four decades of changes in partners' relative incomes: Gender revolution or men’s unemployment?
BSPS 2017 conference (2017). (University of Liverpool)
Authors: Vitali A,
Donne protagoniste del futuro (Women are protagonists of the future)
Momketing conference (2017). (Milan, Italy)
Authors: Vitali A,
Mamme in parlamento: Incontro tra le nuove mamme digitali e le Istituzioni [Mums in Parliament: Meeting between the new digital moms and the Institutions]
Fattore Mamma in Parliament (2017). (Italian Parliament, Rome)
Authors: Vitali A,
Women's economic dependency and the transition to marriage
EPC 2016 (2016). (Mainz, Germany)
Authors: Holland J, Vitali A,
Female breadwinners in Europe
Understanding population change in Europe and China: Sharing research experiences for policy development (2016). (University of Southampton)
Authors: Vitali A,
Identikit of mothers (and families) Italian
Momketing (2016). (Spazio Copernico Milano Centrale, Milano)
Authors: Vitali A,
Who brings home the bacon? The influence of context on partners' contributions to the household income.
European Consortium for Sociological Research (ECSR) 2016 Conference (2016). (University of Oxford)
Authors: Vitali A, Arpino B,
The educational gradient in resource pooling across native and foreign-born spouses in Italy
2016 BSPS Conference (2016). (University of Winchester)
Authors: Fraboni R, Vitali A,
Who brings home the bacon? The influence of context on partners' contributions to the household income
QSS Seminar (2016). (UCL Institute of Education)
Authors: Vitali A,
The educational gradient in matrimonial property regime among Italian and foreign spouses
EPC 2016 (2016). (Mainz, Germany)
Authors: Fraboni R, Vitali A,
Partners' relative incomes and fertility intentions
EPC 2016 (2016). (Mainz, Germany)
Authors: Vitali A, Testa M,
Why pool resources in marriage? A study on the choice of matrimonial property regime in Italy
CPC (2016). Series Number: 79.
Authors: Vitali A, Fraboni R,
Who brings home the bacon? The influence of context on partners' contributions to the household income
Demographic Research (2016). 35 (41) 1213-1244
Authors: Vitali A, Arpino B,
Partners' relative earnings and fertility intentions
Conference on education and reproduction in low-fertility settings (2015). (Vienna)
Authors: Vitali A, Testa M,
Fertility intentions of women who out-earn their partners
Family dynamics, fertility choices, and family. (2014). (Oslo, Norway)
Authors: Vitali A, Testa M,
Women as main earners in Europe
CPC (2014). Series Number: 56.
Authors: Vitali A, Mendola D,
Media
Female-breadwinner families on the breadline Institute for New Economic Thinking. 2020
Female-breadwinner families on the breadline Population Europe. 2020
Female-breadwinner families on the breadline Feminist approaches to quantitative social science. 2020
The geography of female-breadwinner and equal-income couples in Europe Niussp - iussp's online news magazine. 2016
Agnese Vitali and Bruno Arpino have written the article "The geography of female-breadwinner and equal-income couples in Europe" on www.niussp.org, the IUSSP's online news magazine.
Who are the new female breadwinners? The Conversation. 2015
Article on The Conversation.com, "Who are the new female breadwinners?"
Female breadwinners Population europe website. 2015
Webcast video on the Population Europe website in which Agnese Vitali discusses female breadwinners.
Donne breadwinner: tra opportunità e necessità economica Corriere della Sera website. 2015
Article on Corriere della Sera blog website, "Donne breadwinner: tra opportunità e necessità economica"
