Using dissimilarity index for analysing gender equity in childcare activities in Spain

Abstract

This paper uses dissimilarity indexes to examine whether there is equity or not in the time dedicated by mothers and fathers to childcare activities, since according to the literature, it is recommended that both the mother and the father participate in them together. The study focuses on Spain, a country where currently there is a great debate on this topic. The data were provided by the Time-Use Survey, conducted by the Spanish Statistics Office in years 2009-2010 and the final database consists of 1,878 heterosexual households with children. Results indicate that male participation in childcare is still far from female participation, although the way both men and women distribute their childcare time among childcare activities is certainly similar.