Attitudes Towards Sharing Childcare Responsibilities in Hungary and Finland

Our study provides a comparison of childcare attitudes in Hungary and Finland. One of Finland’s best-known social characteristics is its progressive and egalitarian approach to childcare, an important aspect of which is the equal sharing of roles and responsibilities between men and women. In contrast, post-socialist Hungary is more characterized by its acceptance of traditional gender roles and family models. The aim of this study is to provide a quantitative comparative analysis of attitudes towards sharing childcare responsibilities and the roles of parents (mothers and fathers) within families in Hungary and Finland, along the dimensions of traditional and egalitarian family models. Data from the 2022 module of the International Social Survey Programme “Family and Changing Gender Roles” with Hungarian (N = 1027) and Finnish (N = 1250) respondents were analyzed regarding attitudes towards division of work within the family, gender roles and childcare perceptions, with a focus on the views on fathers’ participation in family and household tasks. The main results show that in Hungary traditional attitudes towards women’s and men’s roles in the family are present, whereas Finnish respondents clearly reject traditional gender roles, indicating support for the egalitarian family model. Although we found some differences between various sociodemographic groups in this regard, the Finnish population’s attitudes towards parental roles are more homogeneous compared to the Hungarian sample, which seems to be polarized. Our results show that three main factors emerged during the principal component analysis: in the Hungarian sample, two distinct parental role groups emerged (financial responsibility and emotional-educational roles), whereas in the Finnish sample, a more unified, integrated perception of parental roles was identified. Based on regression analyses, demographic variables explain the differences in attitudes only to a limited extent. The roles of fathers with young children within the family reflect a caring pattern of active involvement in the child’s life in both countries. However, the traditional role of the father in providing financial security for the family is still an important expectation in Hungarian society, whereas in the Finnish population this is less emphasized. This research contributes to the understanding of differences in childcare, the effects and differences in family support policies in Scandinavian Finland and post-socialist Hungary, also suggests measures for a more equal distribution of childcare responsibilities.