Combining Work and Family Life in Croatia and Their Influence on Fertility

Abstract

The dual-earner family is increasingly becoming a norm in the majority of developed countries. The aim of this paper is to investigate how developed is the infrastructure for combining family and work and what type of family models are preferred by employed women in Croatia. In the survey, based on a sample of 1309 employed women aged 20-39, different statistical techniques were applied to find their preferred family model and attitudes on women’s labor market position. The results show that a large majority of employed women prefer the dual-earner model, where both parents have paid work outside of the household. Moreover, younger generations of women have more liberal views on women's position in the labor market. To increase women’s employment and fertility in the same time is no easy task, but experience from countries where high women’s employment rate coexists with higher fertility rate show it is not impossible. We conclude that the lack of possibility for part- -time work in Croatia imposes a barrier for women who want to combine professional and family responsibilities.