The moral assumption of care for parents: a gender issue?

Abstract

This article asks whether attitudes towards the moral obligation to care for parents is a gender issue that is generalisable to all European countries, or whether different models of the welfare state and provision of assistance to older people are factors that modify the views of informal carers. To this end, the article analyses the European Values Study as applied to five countries which, according to previous correspondence, represent different cultural models: Norway, Germany, Russia, Italy and Spain. The article provides an analysis of each of these countries in order to identify the impact of sociodemographic variables (sex and living together with parents), as well as a comparative analysis aimed at identifying differences and similarities among different models of welfare (Scandinavian, former communist, Central European and familialist). The aim is to determine whether the associated factors have an individual character, with a strong gender impact, or rather a cultural character, with the welfare model providing a strong associated impact. The analysis reveals that in the case of opinions gathered in different European countries, the model of welfare appears as the most influential associated factor. Similarly, it can be said that despite the existence of strongly familialist welfare models in southern Europe, Spain moves towards a greater resemblance to central European countries on this issue.