Partner care, gender equality, and ageing in Spain and Sweden

• We used national surveys to study how older persons’ changing household patterns influence the gender balance of caregiving in two countries with distinct household structures and cultures, Spain and Sweden. In both countries, men and women provide care equally often for their partner in couple-only households. This has become the most common household type among older persons in Spain and prevails altogether in Sweden. This challenges the traditional dominance of young or middle-aged women as primary caregivers in Spain. In Sweden, many caregivers are old themselves. We focus attention to partners as caregivers and the consequences of changing household structures for caregiving, which may be on the way to gender equality in both countries, with implications for families and for the public services.

Ämnesord

Social Sciences  (hsv)

Sociology  (hsv)

Social Work  (hsv)

Samhällsvetenskap  (hsv)

Sociologi  (hsv)

Socialt arbete  (hsv)

Health and Welfare  (du)

Hälsa och välfärd  (du)

Nyckelord

Caregiving

Gender equality

Household pattern

Partner care

Spain

Sweden

adult

aging

attention

caregiver

female

gender

household

human

human experiment

male

middle aged