Between Traditionalism and Egalitarianism: Non Linearities in Divorce Dynamics

Daniela Bellani, Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Diederik Boertien, Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Gosta Esping-Andersen, Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Léa Pessin, Universitat Pompeu Fabra

Research on the link between women’s employment and divorce risks has rarely included consideration of the potentially moderating effect of equity. We use EHA on data from the GSOEP for (Western) Germany, the PSID for the US and the BHPS for Britain in order to identify the role of equity as a predictor of divorce. Both the wife’s share of paid work and her share of unpaid work are combined into a measure of equity. Although the association between the wife’s share of paid work and divorce is positive in all the three Countries, our results show that such effects are smaller when partnerships are equitable. Equity significantly decreases the risk of divorce for couples within traditional male breadwinner couples in Britain and Germany; in the US, the effect is significant among dual earner couples.