(Un)changing gender relations (GenFam)
GenFam is the first comprehensive project to systematically examine six key societal challenges related to the unchanging gender relations in paid and unpaid work, increasing family diversity and declining fertility in Switzerland
Factsheet
- Schools involved Business School
- Institute(s) Institute for New Work
- Research unit(s) Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
- Strategic thematic field Thematic field "Caring Society"
- Funding organisation SNSF
- Duration (planned) 01.01.2026 - 31.12.2029
- Head of project Prof. Dr. Isabelle Zinn
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Project staff
Gesine Fuchs
Stephanie Steinmetz - Keywords family diversity, gender inequalities, infertility, social policies, social sustainability
Situation
Over the past five decades, family life in Europe has undergone profound transformations. Marriage and fertility have declined, childlessness and separation have increased, and new forms of partnership and parenthood have become more common. Rather than disappearing, families have diversified, reflecting broader trends toward individualization, flexible life-courses, and greater gender equality. Yet this “gender revolution” has stalled: while women’s education and employment have risen sharply, shifts in men’s unpaid work and leadership roles remain limited. Switzerland offers a unique context to study these developments. Its hybrid welfare state, conservative family policies, fragmented federal structures, and persistent gender norms create specific challenges for work–family articulation and for achieving gender equality. Despite policy improvements, childcare remains costly and scarce, and traditional arrangements continue to shape everyday life. By introducing the cross-national Gender and Generation Survey (GGS) to Switzerland, GenFam provides a much-needed evidence base for understanding how well the country is prepared to address growing family diversity, persistent gender inequalities, and declining fertility.
Course of action
In collaboration with ten partners from seven Swiss universities, the project uses an innovative cross-national and multi-method research design that integrates quantitative evidence with in-depth qualitative research. The project is structured around four main work packages and eight sub-projects, which adopt a life course, intersectional and comparative perspective. From a life course perspective, the challenges of fertility, family diversification and gender division are linked to critical transitions such as parenthood or divorce, over which risks accumulate and inequalities can widen over time. From an intersectional perspective, these dynamics are likely to vary by gender, cohort, educational, socio-economic and migratory background. A comparative perspective makes it possible to examine how institutional contexts - such as regulations and policies - and social norms shape differences in such developments in Switzerland and across Europe. The project will use a multi-method approach to test hypotheses quantitatively, while complementing these findings with in-depth qualitative research.
Result
GenFam will advance both the Swiss and international academic community through the production of academic and policy papers, and the GGS data will be a valuable teaching resource in family sociology, demography and social policy, and longitudinal data collection and analysis. It will facilitate the training of future cohorts of students and young researchers interested in these topics from a national and comparative perspective. In addition, the combination of GGS data with a structured policy database will provide a powerful knowledge resource for future research projects.
Looking ahead
By combining statistical and policy analysis, GenFam will also make a significant contribution to social policy research by evaluating existing policies and programs and identifying gaps. By contextualizing findings within the relevant policy landscape, both academics and policy makers may be able to evaluate and develop more effective strategies to address these societal challenges. It will also provide a basis for assessing the adequacy of Swiss policies in addressing potential negative consequences of these challenges and identifying areas for improvement.
