Gender inequity and low fertility in Italy: the mechanisms of influence

The inequity between partners in the organization of housework has been shown to depress couples’ fertility decisions, especially the decision to have a second child of dual-earner couples. If the relationship is well established, little attention has been devoted to the mechanisms of influence in the relationship depending on other intervening or interactional dimensions. With reference to a two waves Italian survey of the National Statistics Institute (“Indagine Multiscopo sulle Famiglie”), we will try to shed light on the association behind Italian couples’ fertility decisions and their domestic work, by accounting for socio-economic characteristics and partners’ gender attitudes.