The Class Dimension of the Gender Division of Childcare in Croatia

Abstract

This article analyzes the class dimension of the gender division in carrying out activities related to childcare as an aspect of gender inequalities in the division of household labor in Croatia. Primary data were collected through a survey conducted in 2024 (random probabilistic KnowledgePanel). For class analysis, we adopted the model developed in Cvetičanin et al. (2021) and Petrić et al. (2022). We projected childcare indicators as supplementary variables onto a class cluster map obtained by multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA). The results show that men who perform activities related to childcare more often than their female partners are found only in those class fractions of Croatian society that are characterized by a high to medium
volume of total capital (economic-political, cultural and social), while such a division of labor is rarely represented in capital-poor fractions (precarious and agrarian). The so-called »new fatherhood« trend, visible in activities that combine men engaging in care of children’s education and health, is present only in the class fraction with the highest volume of capital (economic-political).