YOUTH 2020 - The position of young people in Slovenia

52 Figure 1.9: Youth beliefs regarding three aspects of family life, 2010–2020. How strongly do you agree with the following claims? (% of those agreeing somewhat or wholly) 10% 20% 30% 50% 40% 60% 2020 Most household chores are naturally more befitting of a woman Obedience and respect for authority are the most important values in raising children Same-sex parents are able to raise their children just as good as opposite-sex parents 23.2 60.0 33.5 25.2 40.2 56.6 2010 0% 70% Sources: Mladina 2010, Mladina 2020. Nevertheless, this should not lead us to conclude gender roles are re-tra- ditionalizing in all aspects. In fact, the share of young people that think same-sex partners can raise children just as well as partners of opposite sexes has almost doubled in the past decade. This is a significant jump away from traditional views on the family. Moreover, today the share of young people that thinks children should, first and foremost, learn to be obedient and respect authority is much lower than it had been. This is especially important in light of the fact that obedience and respect for authority are two elements on the authoritarian measurement scale (Lane, 1955), which implies that young Slovenians is moving away from authoritarianism – at least within family life. In the 2020 study, we asked respondents how they feel about balancing family life with their work. It turned out that 64% agree with the claim that finding a balance is very hard. Unsurprisingly, the share is signifi- cantly higher (72%) among those young people that live with their own children. Similarly, women (67%) feel a balance is somewhat harder to achieve than men (62 %), which is understandable given that they are assigned a larger share of household chores.