The patterns of paid and unpaid work adopted by migrants families with dependent children are more or less similar to that of prevailing working pattern of men and women of Australian born couples. A case study with 28 couple families, 14 husbands and 14 wives who migrated from Nepal under "skill" or "professional" category and the literature review on paid and unpaid work of couple families with dependent children show that in both families the trend of change of working pattern in paid and unpaid work is similar. With the increased participation of married women in the paid labour force, men increased participation in household work. There is increased household work for both husbands and wives, but women tend to do more household "inside" and childcare work than men. In the mean time, men tend to do more work in the "masculine" sphere of "outside" work in house maintenance, repair and car care. The only factor that differentiates working pattern of migrant families with Australian born families is the experience of migration and the category that they migrated. The change of working practice of paid and unpaid work of migrant families are affected by the change of family type from extended family to two generational family and their education and previous work experience that they brought along with them. Professional migrants who migrated family as a "unit" migrated spouse and dependent children together and they made their own decision to migrate, unlike other categories of migrants who migrated from political or economic pressure. One of the important experiences of migrant families is that there are new opportunity, new lifestyle, new intimacy and companionship and new sharing of work between husbands and wives after migration. At the same time, there are losses of extended family relatives, close friends and cultural event which affects their day to day lives. There are Australian based friends who provided support in the initial period of migration but these families do not provide regular assistance or support which family relatives provided in Nepal.

The patterns of paid and unpaid work adopted by migrants families with dependent children are more or less similar to that of prevailing working pattern of men and women of Australian born couples. A case study with 28 couple families, 14 husbands and 14 wives who migrated from Nepal under "skill" or "professional" category and the literature review on paid and unpaid work of couple families with dependent children show that in both families the trend of change of working pattern in paid and unpaid work is similar. With the increased participation of married women in the paid labour force, men increased participation in household work. There is increased household work for both husbands and wives, but women tend to do more household "inside" and childcare work than men. In the mean time, men tend to do more work in the "masculine" sphere of "outside" work in house maintenance, repair and car care. The only factor that differentiates working pattern of migrant families with Australian born families is the experience of migration and the category that they migrated. The change of working practice of paid and unpaid work of migrant families are affected by the change of family type from extended family to two generational family and their education and previous work experience that they brought along with them. Professional migrants who migrated family as a "unit" migrated spouse and dependent children together and they made their own decision to migrate, unlike other categories of migrants who migrated from political or economic pressure. One of the important experiences of migrant families is that there are new opportunity, new lifestyle, new intimacy and companionship and new sharing of work between husbands and wives after migration. At the same time, there are losses of extended family relatives, close friends and cultural event which affects their day to day lives. There are Australian based friends who provided support in the initial period of migration but these families do not provide regular assistance or support which family relatives provided in Nepal.

Fördelningen av det obetalda hem- och omsorgsarbetet har länge varit ett omtalat ämne och en orsak till konflikter i förhållandet. Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur heterosexuella par med hemmavarande barn hanterar och upplever fördelningen av det obetalda hem- och omsorgsarbetet samt möjliga framgångsrika strategier paren kan tänkas använda för att uppnå en jämlik fördelning. 10 par intervjuades genom semistrukturerade intervjuer. För att besvara första frågeställningen användes materialet för att få fram den upplevda jämlikheten samt att sammanställa den upplevda arbetsfördelningen. För den andra frågeställningen tematiserades materialet där teman för strategier visade sig. Resultatet visade att kvinnor ägnar mer tid åt hushållsarbete än männen, men när det kommer till omsorgen blir fördelningen mer jämlik. Parens upplevelse av jämlikhet varierade, trots ojämlikhet inom vissa par så har ändå majoriteten en upplevelse av att det jämnar ut sig i slutändan. Varierande strategier användes men den som paren angav oftast var kommunikation.

La presente tesi è un contributo allo studio delle implicazioni economiche delle intenzioni di fecondità e all’analisi degli aspetti economici legati ai processi decisionali riproduttivi. Precisamente la tesi, composta da tre capitoli indipendenti e basata su dati Italiani, si focalizza su donne, su individui che vivono in coppia e sulle coppie. In particolare lo studio mira a comprendere: i) l'interazione esistente tra il mercato del lavoro (con un focus particolare sul ruolo del settore occupazionale femminile) e le preferenze per la formazione della famiglia; ii) le influenze della ripartizione dei ruoli domestici all’interno della coppia sulle intenzioni riproduttive; iii) le determinanti (all’interno delle coppie) dell’accordo/disaccordo circa l'intenzione di diventare genitori una seconda volta, e -per coppie che registrano un disaccordo- iv) le determinanti che spingono una donna a contrastare l’intenzione positive del suo partner per un secondo figlio. La tesi utilizza il mixed-method design, una strategia basata sull’analisi quantitativa dei dati nonché sull’analisi approfondita di interviste: questo approccio consente di studiare l'argomento da diverse prospettive e -grazie ai due metodi di ricerca -quantitativo e qualitativo- di approfondire le conoscenze del fenomeno di interesse. / The thesis is a contribution to the study of the economic implications of fertility intentions and desires and of the economic aspects of the fertility decision making process. Precisely, it is based on three autonomous chapters and it aims at understanding: a) for women and for individuals within the couples the interplay between fertility and labour market preferences (with a particular focus on the role of women's sector of employment), and the influences that the (un)balanced division of domestic duties play on the intentions of becoming parents for another time in Italy; b) for couples living together the determinants of their (dis)agreement about the intention of becoming parents again; and c) for couples that disagree on future fertility plans, the determinants of female’s contrasting attitude towards her partners’ positive fertility intention. The dissertation uses a mixed-method design- a strategy based on survey data analysis as well as in-depth interviews analysis: this approach allows investigating the topic from different perspectives, by means of both quantitative and qualitative research methods in order to provide new insights into the phenomenon of interest.