Work and family over the life-cycle : a typology of couples

Nicolas Robette, Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED)
Anne Solaz, Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED)

Childbirths are a crucial step in the resetting of gender relationships within the family. They clearly create a gap in spouses’ career profiles. Usually, studies adopt an approach centred on individuals. But male and female trajectories are interdependent. So an approach centred on the couple, which deals with the interaction between the trajectories of spouses, is necessary. Such studies are quite rare. We analyse the evolution of the division of labour within couples between market activities and domestic tasks in the life-cycle, from the couple’s formation. First, we examine jointly males and females’ familial and occupational life histories of more than 3000 couples, gathered in the 2004-2005 Family and Employers Survey, to establish a typology of the spouses’ career profiles, by means of sequence analysis (OMA). Then we study what characterize and determine the couples belonging to the defined profiles.