Questionnaire

"The last three generations of men and women in Europe"

Generations and their historical time

In order to analyse accurately grandparents, parents and pupils's responses it is necessary to know what historical period the three generations surveyed were born and brought up in.

The majority of grandparents experienced the traumatic episode of the civil war (1936-1939) as part of their infancy or adolescence. More than 69% of the granfathers and 46% of the grandmothers are aged between 65 and 75. Their up-bringing was essentially marked by post war Spain and the civil conflict remains for them an unforgettable memory of their childhood. A significant percentage of the grandmothers, more than 42% and a little less than 25% of the grandfathers experienced the conflict in the last stages of their adolescence or at the beginning of their youth. The democratic period of the Second Republic must have some kind of effect on the developement of grandparents who are now aged between 75 and 90. Finally, a small percentage of grandfathers (5.56%) and grandmothers (11.11%) were born during the war or in the years which inmediately preceeded it.Their ideas and personality were molded completely under Franco's rule. All grandparents experienced a Spain marked by economic backwardness and poverty. Quite possibly a lot of them come from a rural environment.

The main body of parents were born at the end of the forties or during the fifties. This means that they knew and they were brought up in the last period of the dictatorship and that they came to adolescence in the "developing Spain" during the sixties and at the beginning of the seventies. During this period Alcorcón started the spectacular urbanistic development which has led to the conversion of a small castillian village into a major town which has 150.000 inhabitants. Only a minority, 15.25% of fathers and 21.67% of mothers, aged between 35 and 40 were teenagers during the period between the dying stages of francoism and the new born democracy, in an economic atmosphere in which massive unemployment, figured as our country's worst problem.

Questionnaire

• First question:At what age did you finish your studies?
  The majority of grandparents dropped studying before they were 10 years old (more than 50%).Another considerable percentage is formed by a group which abandonned their studiesbetween the ages of 11 and 14.But we must underline that more women continue their studies at this age. In the field of higher education more men continue their studies, although the percentage of people who reach this level is very small (13.8% of grandfathers and 5.6% of grandmothers) In the parents generation, leaving school before the age of 10 is rare and there is no difference between men and women.More people abandon their studies between the ages of 11 and 14 and the figure is higher for men.From 15 years old onwards more women continue their studies. Regarding higher education, the percentage of people who continue their studies is nearly the same, although that of men is a bit higher. However, we must point out that the percentage for women has risen quite a bit and in a lesser measure that of men.
  
  
• Question 2: Did your parents tell you what profession you should get into?
  In all generations the majority of people have a free choice of profession and this increases the percentage of free decisions in each generation.
  
  
• Question 3: Who was responsible for the children's education?(attending school meetings, talking to the teachers...)
  In the grandparents' generation the father was more concerned with the education of his sons and the mother with that of her daughters. In the parents' generation, the majority of mothers take charge of their sons' education and the number of mothers and of couples who educate their daughters are equal. Today the bringing up of children is taken charge of by the mother in half of the homes and by both parents in the other half.
  
  
• Question 4: Who does the housework?(washing up, cooking, ironing...)
  In the first generation mothers and daughters did the housework. In the second generation women were still in charge of doing this work. In the third generation housework is done by women mostly, but the percentage of homes where parents and children share these tasks is now higher. The fact of having the housework done by a part-time cleaner can be noticed in the last generation.
  
  
• Question 5: Who does the repairs at home?
  In all generations house repairs are mainly done by men. Now the percentage of homes in which they have these tasks done (by a technician,for example) is increasing.
  
  
• Question 6: Who is in charge of the home expenses?
  In the three generations the mother is the key figure in this aspect of domestic life. (First generation 50%, second generation 60%, third generation 40%). We have to point out that in today's generation, the role of the mother as administrator, though most women are still in charge of it, is decreasing and it's becoming more common that both spouses share the home administration.
  
  
• Question 7: Who has the last word in important economic questions?
  We can see a clear developement.The predominant role of the father(first generation 53.8%) has dramatically become less important. This favours decisions shared by both men and women.(third generation 71.9%)
  
  
• Question 8: Who drives the car everyday?
  In spite of the fact that there were very few cars in our grandparents' generation in our country, it is stated that there has been a slight change: Before, men totally monopolized cars while now a small amount of women belonging to the parents' generation drive, still very few as the figures show.(6% mothers and 14% both).
  
  
• Question 9: Who works outside of the home?
  There is a surprising fact: in the first generation there is a higher percentage of families (27.9%) in which both the father and the mother work, than in the second generation (20%). This is probably due to the rural character of many of the grandparents' families. Concerning the rest, in both generations we can see clearly the predominance of the father in this function. In today's generation we can see a clear increase in the percentage of families in which both the father and mother work (43.8%), although even in more than half of them (54.2%) the father is the only one who works outside of the home. We have to point out as well the fact that, according to our schoolchildren's responses, none of them have both parents unemployed
  
  
• Question 10: (Only if both parents work) Who has a better income?
  In the first two generations fathers clearly had higher salaries. That has changed.:20% of our pupils' mothers have better incomes than their husbands.
  
  
• Question 11:Who looks after the children?(feeds them, gets them dressed, looks after them when they are sick...)
  Here we see a developement in the opposite direction. In the two previous generations looking after the children was clearly a woman's job. In today's families, although it is mainly mothers who carry out this job, it is becoming more common that both parents share it (26.2%) and that fathers do these tasks (23%). It is strange that a much higher percentage of girls consider their father to be in charge of the children (33.3%). In the case of boys the figure is much lower (4.5%).
  
  
• Question 12:Who looks after the old people in the family?
  Again we see a task which has clearly changed from being a woman's job (first generation 68.5%, and second generation 60.4%) to a job to a job carried out by both parents in 55% of today's families. However the role of the mother continues to be very important, because she is in charge of looking after the old people in 38% of the cases.
  
  
• Question 13: Who says what's right and what's wrong?(values, conduct, behaviour...)
  This job has always mainly been shared by by both parents, although in the grandparents' generation the father had a superior role and in today's generation this responsibility is clearly shared.
  
  
• Question 14: Who makes sure that the house rules are kept to?
  Before the father had an outstanding role in this.But there is an evident change: it is becoming the responsibility of both parents. Mothers from the three generations have a significant role in this aspect (about 20%) and their role is clearly becoming more important than that of men even in today's generation.
  
  
• Question 15:When rules are not kept by children, who takes disciplinary measures? (punishment...)
  Again we see the paternal figure disappearing. In the first generation men had an important role in this but now it has become a shared responsibility. It is significant that girls, more than boys regard their mother as the one who imposes discipline.
  
  
• Question 16: At the weekends, what time do you have to be back home?
  Two tendencies are shown: a greater tolerance towards children who arrive home late and a growing equality. With regard to this, we have to point out that it is in the parents' generation that more discriminatory treatment towards women is perceived.
  
  
• Question 17:Do girls and boys get the same pocket money?
  In this question we see a significant developement towards equality, even though a third of the pupils still believe there are differences.
  
  
• Question 18: Do you care about politics?
  People are not very interested in politics (barely an average of 22.1% care about them) Men, especially parents show more concernment about these matters. Women of the new generations, mostly mothers and even more schoolgirls are becoming more interested in this topic.
  
  
• Question 19: Are you involved in social or political organizations? (political parties, trade unions, environment, youth, students' organizations?)
  The participation in social and political organizations is even lower that the interest in politics (only an average of 11.4%). We must point out that gandfathers and shoolgirls participate more.
  
  
• Question 20: What age is considered normal to start sexual relations?
  The age considered normal to start sexual relations is within the range of 16 to 25, with great differences of opinion depending on age. Grandparents are the most conservative; they think the best age is from 20 onwards. Parents think the normal age is from 16 to 25, and students consider it appropiate from 16 to 20, although a considerable number of girls think they can wait till they're 25.
  
  
• Question 21: Do you agree with having sexual relations before getting married?
  Referring to this we can see remarkable generational differences. Most grandfathers are not in favour of having them. Parents have different opinions on this matter while all boys and most girls think they are quite convenient.
  
  
• Question 22: Do you consider marriage the only acceptable way of having a long relation?
  The differences shown in the previous question can be found again here. Most grandparents consider marriage as the only way to have a stable relationship. Parents' opinion vary, though a higher percentage of them defend marriage. In general pupils do not consider marriage the only way to have a lasting relationship.
  
  
• Question 23: Do you accept homosexual relationship?
  Tolerance towards homosexual relationship depends on the age and sex of the people surveyed. Grandparents totally disagree with it. Most fathers do not accept it, whereas 50% of mothers tolerate it. Most boys think it's all right and it's girls who show more tolerance towards this kind of relationship.