Reproductive Intentions and Division of Chores in the Family: An Empirical Assessment of the Relationship Using Russian Data
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14515/monitoring.2026.4.3211Keywords:
fertility, reproductive behavior, reproductive intentions, division of household chores, binary choice modelsAbstract
This article presents an empirical analysis of the relationship between Russians' reproductive intentions and the division of household chores, along with their satisfaction with it. The study draws on theoretical approaches linking fertility to the participation of men and women in domestic labor, and builds upon the methodology proposed in a study by Riederer and co-authors using data from four European countries. The empirical basis is the first wave (2004) of the nationally representative survey “Parents and Children, Men and Women in Family and Society” (implemented in Russia as part of the international Generations and Gender Programme). Based on four types of household chores (cooking, washing dishes, shopping for groceries, and cleaning), the author constructed an index to classify households into groups with traditional and modernized division of labor. This index was then combined with three levels of satisfaction with the existing distribution. To test the hypotheses, a binary logistic regression was estimated with the dependent variable being the intention to have a child in the next three years. Models were estimated separately for men and women, as well as for respondents with and without children. The results showed that a combination of a modernized division of labor and extremely high satisfaction with it is significant for the formation of positive intentions. In contrast, traditional division of labor combined with low satisfaction proved to be one of the notable negative factors. Analysis on subsamples revealed heterogeneity: for women, the positive effect of modernized division of labor with high satisfaction was significant, whereas for men, only the negative effect of dissatisfaction with the traditional model remained significant. The link between division of labor and intentions is robust for respondents with children but almost statistically insignificant for childless respondents.
Acknowledgments. This article is an output of a research project (HSE-BR-2025-013) implemented as part of the Basic Research Program at HSE University. The author expresses sincere gratitude to Elena Vakulenko and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable feedback, comments, and recommendations, which helped to improve the content of the article.
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