Like Parent, Like Child? Parent-Child Consistency as a Driver of Gender-Inequality in Occupations and Career and Family Roles Across Countries

Abstract Worldwide there is persistent gender inequality in the occupational and domestic spheres, with women being underrepresented in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) fields and men being less involved in HEED (health care, elementary education, domestic sphere). This preregistered cross-cultural study examined the role of parents in the intergenerational transmission of these gender inequalities to their young adult children. Specifically, we examined whether parents’ division of labor and occupations predicted young adults’ career and family orientation and interest in HEED and STEM careers, and whether associations are different depending on parent and child gender. This study further investigated whether these associations are moderated by country-level variation in collectivism, the value of personal autonomy, gender equality, and gender stereotypes. We used a large dataset with 17,629 young adults (aged 17–25, 63% women) from 44 countries. Results showed that, across countries, a more traditional division of paid labor between one’s parents (i.e., father > mother) was associated with a more gender-typical orientation to family for young adult women. Unexpectedly, having a mother with a HEED job was related to a greater interest in HEED careers and a greater orientation to family vs. career for both young adult men and women. Societal indicators of collectivism, personal autonomy, gender equality, and gender stereotypes did not moderate any of the associations. Thus, gender inequalities in division of labor may be transmitted from parents to their children, similarly across different countries, whereas this process seemed less relevant for explaining gender segregation in STEM and HEED careers.