Relative Participation of Men and Women in Paid and Unpaid Work: An Analysis of Variations by Individual, Family and Community Characteristics

On the basis of the 1998 General Social Survey on Time Use, the relative participation in paid and unpaid work of partners in a household is classified into three types: complementary wherein one partner, usually the wife, does more unpaid work while the other partner does more paid work; double burden wherein one partner does more unpaid work while doing more or the same amount of paid work; and shared roles wherein both partners do about the same amount unpaid work. Couples who are cohabiting, and couples where both partners are working fulltime, have a higher likelihood of both shared roles and double burdens, compared to complementary roles. Shared roles are less common at older ages, with lower levels of education, and for those with higher religiosity. Double-burdens are more common when there are no children, also less common in rural areas, but more common in communities where there is a low proportion of immigrants

Synthesis Report on Canadian Youth: A Focus on Minority Youth

Using data from the 2006 Census and the 2002 Ethnic Diversity Survey, this report provides demographic, economic, and socio-cultural profiles of young Canadians aged 15-24, with focus on visible minority groups, Aboriginal, Anglophone living in Quebec, and Francophone living in the rest of Canada. The profiles of young followers of various religions are also examined with the use of data from the 2001 Census. The focus on the youth stems from a life course perspective recognizing that transitions in education, work, and family life in adolescence and early adulthood may differ for young Canadians belonging to minority groups from those in the majority. The use of aggregated data could provide comparative indicators of which groups of young Canadians are doing well in terms of education and work, and which groups may be lagging behind

Population Change and Life Course: Taking stock and looking to the future

This paper takes advantage of the insights from the culminating conference of the Population Change and Lifecourse Strategic Knowledge Cluster (PCLC), a collaborative network of academic researchers and policy people, in partnership with a number of Canadian federal agencies. The PCLC focused on strategic issues regarding population change, and on research that takes a life course perspective, with the central objective of sharing the associated knowledge. We first summarize and note some important observations from the Conference sessions that were dedicated to “taking stock”, specifically on: Aging and paid work; Health over the life course; Immigrants and migrants; Population composition: Aboriginal and Visible Minorities; Caregiving and social participation; Families; and Aging, lifelong learning and life course flexibility. The summary points to the need to pay attention to various sub-groups as we adapt to changing population; and, that attention to life course enables analysis of how given groups are more vulnerable than others. Based not only on the presentations at the conference, we finish with reflections on future considerations in terms of (1) strategic issues, (2) data issues, and (3) collaborative structures that would support a continuation of the interface of research, data, policy, and partnerships

Recul de la nuptialité en Tunisie : causes et conséquences

Inclut résumé en anglai

Child Care: Preferences and Opportunity Costs

Family and work questions over the life course can be analyzed as constrained choices within structural and normative contexts. We focus here on the preferences and opportunity costs associated with child care, using data from the 2006 General Social Survey on Family. We start with the extent of usage of various forms of child care, for respondents with children aged 0-4, along with the reasons for the choice and the preferences for alternate forms of care. Among respondents with children under five years of age, 48% are currently using regular child care of some kind, and 79% of persons using child care are using their preferred form of care. We then consider the paid work status of parents with children aged 0-4, in comparison to other respondents, including their preference to work more or fewer hours. When there are young children present, women on average have lower employment rates, and lower average hours of work, along with a higher proportion who would prefer to work fewer hours. The opposite applies to men, who have their highest employment rates when there are young children at home. These patterns can be interpreted as opportunity costs of child care for women, but they may also represent preferences for given forms of care and for the amount of paid work to be done by women and men when they are parenting young children. The differences between Quebec and the rest of Canada suggest that a greater availability of publicly funded child care prompts a higher usage of child care, and reduces the opportunity costs of child care to women’s work

How Cohesive are Canadian CMAs? A Measure of Social Cohesion Using the National Survey of Giving, Volunteering, and Participating

Social cohesion is a concept difficult to define and to measure. As there can be many definitions, so there can be many measurements. The main problem, either in defining or measuring the concept, is its multi-level and multi-dimensional nature. At one extreme, country is the most commonly used level to view social cohesion but measurement at this level is of little use for interventions. At the other extreme, community is the most useful level but it is a social construct for which data are difficult to obtain, given the administrative boundaries used in social surveys. As an initial attempt to measure social cohesion at a sub-country level, this study focuses on census metropolitan areas for which data on several dimensions of social cohesion are available. We use the information gathered by the National Survey on Giving, Volunteering and Participating (NSGVP) on three domains of social cohesion: political, economic, and social. Statistical techniques including factor analysis and standardization are applied to the data to generate an overall index of social cohesion for each CMA

The Family and Political Dimension of Social Cohesion: Analysing the Link Using the 2000 National Survey on Giving, Volunteering and Participating

This study examines the effects of family on patterns of civic engagement (through giving, volunteering and membership in organizations) of Canadian men and women. Data are from the 2000 National Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating (NSGVP), which collected information on personal and family variables such as age, sex, household size, marital status, and presence of children. The study finds that changes in families could have opposite effects on civic participation depending on the indicator. Children, for example, have positive impact on volunteering, but negative on association membership of men. And, full employment of women hinders volunteering but encourages participation in associations. In contrast, social capital has unequivocal effect - whether measured as length of stay in community or as influences when the respondents were young, social capital increases all forms of civic involvement

Family diversity and inequality: The Canadian case

The Second Demographic Transition, including flexibility in types of unions and in entry and exit from unions, has increased the diversity across families. There has been a significant cultural and political dynamic to celebrate this diversity as an increase in individual options, beyond the heterosexual couples with children in a traditional division of labour. Diversity can be expressed in various ways: economic families or unattached individuals, married or common law, two parents or lone parent, opposite sex or same sex, breadwinner or two earners, traditional division of work and care or collaborative model, couples with and without children, intact or step-families (simple or complex). On the basis of Canadian data from 1981 to 2011, this paper investigates the extent to which the greater diversity can be seen as representing risks and inequality across families and individuals. With the increase in women’s economic contributions to families, there are important contrasts between two-earner couples, compared to breadwinner and lone parent families. Selectivity into union formation and dissolution, along with assortative mating, are further drivers of inequality. There is increased complexity for policy to support individuals and families that are diverse in their family life course and in their needs

The Converging Gender Trends in Earning and Caring in Canada

Following on our earlier work, this article updates the data on the central family activities of earning a living and caring for each other. We consider the gender side of participation in these activities, along with alternate models of the division of earning and caring. Our analysis of the data shows that the trends in earning and caring have moved in the direction of reduced gender inequalities, especially a greater sharing of paid work, and some change toward men’s greater participation in unpaid work. However, the differences remain large, and the inequalities are accentuated by the presence of young children