Children, labor force participation, and intergenerational transfers: Women’s attitudes and implications for the gender pension gap—survey-based evidence

Population aging, declining fertility, and changing family patterns increasingly shape labor market behavior, retirement decisions, and intergenerational relations. This article examines how women perceive the costs and benefits of parenthood in the context of labor market participation, retirement, and expectations of intergenerational support. The study draws on a nationwide CAWI survey conducted in Poland in late 2024 on a sample of 1,000 women, including 266 aged 60 years and older and 734 below age 60. The analysis focuses on two interrelated mechanisms: the economic channel, related to career interruptions, earnings, and pension entitlements, and the relational channel, linked to intergenerational solidarity and expectations of support from adult children. The results indicate that having children does not significantly differentiate labor market activity after retirement, while financial support from children is relatively rare and clearly less common than organizational and care-related support. Younger women display stronger expectations of future support than seniors currently report receiving. Investments in children’s higher education are not associated with a higher probability of receiving financial support in old age and, in some cases, are linked to lower receipt of such support. At the same time, a pattern of bidirectional intergenerational solidarity emerges: women who support their parents financially or organizationally are more likely to invest in their children and to expect support in the future. The findings also reveal a strong norm of self-sufficiency among older women, with reluctance to request assistance despite potential needs. The results suggest that subjective expectations of intergenerational “returns on investment” coexist with substantial uncertainty regarding actual future support, highlighting the importance of public long-term care arrangements as family support capacities decline.