Reflections on the role of mothers in determining and bridging the gender gap in family care work: evolution is triggered from below

Abstract

Female overload in family care work, especially maternal hyper-presence, is a well-known phenomenon in our country that shows no sign of diminishing and with a clear negative impact on family balances, on the exercise of parental roles, and on the quality of relations between genders and between generations. The article proposes a reflection, carried out within the framework of studies in family pedagogy, which questions both the social and cultural mechanisms that hinder the possibility of an equal sharing of care work between all parental figures, and the possibility for the female world to trigger an evolution 'from below'.