Gender roles : how do University students perceive their future work-life issues?

Abstract

The increase of women joining the labour force has had an impact on how men and women divide their time between work and life responsibilities. It is important to study the work-life balance as achieving such a balance can help towards reaching EU employment target rates. Exploring the beliefs of students can shed light on what type of adults they hope to become. Studies show that students would still like to marry and have children, although some differences exist in their beliefs of who will be forming part of the labour market and who will be caring for the children and doing the housework. This study uses a quantitative research method, namely an online survey to investigate whether 146 current university students following undergraduate courses in Sciences or Information Communication and Technology, both developing fields in Malta, believe they will follow traditional roles in their future or if they aspire for more egalitarian roles. Results show that most students would like to get married and have children. The majority of the students agree with sharing of household chores and would like to form part of a dual-earner, dual-carer household. In fact most favoured non-traditional roles. Overall, this study suggests that the belief in gender equality is high among the undergraduate participants, despite the fact that traces of the traditional roles of male breadwinner and female housewife still persist. The implications are that both men and women are looking for a future which includes both a career as well as an equal role in the household. Policy makers need to take into consideration these changing beliefs when they are amending or setting up new policies. Policies need to reflect the desire to have a balanced work and life role for everyone. Further research on the topic is recommended.