Background: Rising symmetry in public gender roles as a result of women’s rising educational and labour market participation could make both partners’ labour market positions equally relevant with respect to family formation. It is, however, unclear whether and to what extent this evolution has materialised. To date, few studies have examined couple dynamics in the employment–fertility link, and especially the gendered nature of this link remains understudied. Objective: This study examines the effect of dual earners’ relative income, job stability, time availability, and employment-sector-specific flexibility in terms of work regimes on the transition to parenthood in Belgium. Methods: Using longitudinal microdata from the Belgian Administrative Socio-Demographic Panel, we estimate discrete-time hazard models of conception leading to a first birth. Results: Controlling for employment characteristics at the household level, we find higher first birth hazards when the female partner has higher time availability or access to flexible work regimes, suggesting a persistent gendered precondition to parenthood. By contrast, the gender distribution of income does not affect the transition to parenthood. Contribution: This study adds to the literature by simultaneously considering a broad array of partners’ employment characteristics in an institutional setting that strongly focuses on facilitating the work–family combination. Our findings suggest that there is a shift away from a traditionally gendered fulfilment of labour market preconditions to parenthood in dual earner couples, but not unambiguously towards gender-neutral patterns. Particularly, the time availability and access to flexible work regimes of the female partner rather than the male partner seem to be of importance in the couples’ transition to parenthood.

中文翻译：

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准备为人父母吗？双重收入者在比利时的相对劳动力市场地位和加入父母身份

背景：由于妇女不断增加的教育和劳动力市场参与，导致公共性别角色中的对称性上升，可能使双方的劳动力市场地位在家庭形成方面同样重要。但是，尚不清楚这种演变是否实现以及在何种程度上实现。迄今为止，很少有研究研究就业与生育率联系中的夫妻动态，尤其是这种联系的性别性质仍未得到研究。目的：本研究从比利时的工作制度来看，双工收入者的相对收入，工作稳定性，时间可及性以及特定于就业部门的灵活性对父母过渡的影响。方法：利用比利时社会人口统计行政小组的纵向微观数据，我们估计了导致初生的概念的离散时间危害模型。结果：在家庭一级控制就业特征的过程中，当女性伴侣有更多的时间可利用性或享有灵活的工作制度时，我们发现较高的初生危险，这表明父母身份的性别先决条件持续存在。相比之下，收入的性别分布不影响向父母身份的过渡。贡献：本研究通过在机构环境中同时考虑广泛合作伙伴的就业特征，从而为文献增添了力量，这种机构环境着重于促进工作与家庭的结合。我们的研究结果表明，从传统上按性别划分的劳动力市场前提条件转变为双职工夫妇的父母身份，但并非毫无疑问地朝着性别中立的模式发展。尤其是，女性伴侣而不是男性伴侣有足够的时间和获得灵活的工作制度对夫妻过渡到父母身份似乎很重要。