Comparative analysis of professional and family aspirations of female and male university students from Kenya, Spain and Iceland

Resumen

The main objective of this study was to analyze to what extent young people show an inclination to accept some sacrifice in their career progression in the future in order to reach a better work-family balance. In particular it addresses the question of to what degree differences remain (on average) between young females and males in this field. In order to do so we are using data from a survey (�Survey on social values and labor expectations of university students�) conducted among a sample of 2392 university students who attended three universities: University of Nairobi, University of Iceland, and Complutense University of Madrid. After building a set of indicators (scales) about career and family involvement aspirations of respondents, and after conducting a statistical and regression analysis, this study has managed to provide empirical evidence about the fact that young women (on average) still have a greater predisposition than young men to make sacrifices in the future in their working careers in order to achieve a better work-family balance. Moreover, having a high degree of leadership aspirations and belonging to an egalitarian household tend to reduce the inclination to sacrifice career opportunities, whereas having a high inclination to be involved in childcare in the future and having the perception of a future work-family conflict tend to increase it. Gender attitudes have a differential effect on female and male students: Having traditional gender attitudes tends to increase the inclination to sacrifice career opportunities in the case of female students and reduce it in the case of male students.