Conference Program

Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) is not only a health-related educational field but also a broader democratic and pedagogical commitment to equality, rights, and relational justice (UNESCO, 2018). Among the key issues addressed by CSE, UNESCO technical guidance includes the disparities reproduced within family life, by stating that “gender inequality is often reflected in the roles and responsibilities of family members” (UNESCO, 2018, p. 38). This perspective becomes particularly relevant in early childhood education and care (ECEC), where educational services play a crucial role in sustaining parental educational responsibilities and fostering school-family educational alliances (Gigli, 2016).

This contribution presents preliminary findings from a qualitative study on gender issues in parenting and in the relationship between families and ECEC services. The study originates from prior focus groups with ECEC professionals in Bologna (Italy), where educators reported recurrent parental narratives – especially from mothers – about the persistent feminization of responsibility, even in contexts where fathers were described as present and caring. These accounts suggested a need to investigate whether and how gender inequalities in parenting are changing, how they are perceived by parents, and what role educational services may play in either challenging or reproducing these dynamics.

The research is framed by literature documenting the persistence of asymmetries in parenting, with mothers still more exposed to primary responsibility for childcare, emotional labor, and educational management (Craig, 2006; Milkie et al., 2002; Musick et al., 2016; Wall & Arnold, 2007). In Italy, this picture is reinforced by structural inequalities in paid work, welfare supports, and work-family reconciliation, which continue to disproportionately affect women’s employment trajectories and wellbeing (Crompton & Lyonette, 2006; Fariello, 2022; ISTAT, 2024, 2025; Naldini & Saraceno, 2011). The study also draws on scholarship on intensive mothering, which highlights how socially valorized models of “good parenting” may intensify maternal responsibility and contribute to guilt, overload, and the reproduction of gender hierarchies (Forbes et al., 2021; Hays, 1996; Meeussen & Van Laar, 2018; Sità, 2017; Verniers et al., 2022).

Methodologically, the study employs in-depth semi-structured interviews with a purposive, maximum-variation sample of parents with at least one child under six attending educational services in Bologna (Italy), and uses reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2008; Palinkas et al., 2015). Preliminary findings show a tension between declared egalitarian ideals and everyday practices: many participants endorse a gender-neutral “50/50” co-parenting ideal, yet traditional gender norms remain visible in the actual organization of care and educational responsibilities. Emerging themes include the perceived “naturalness” of maternal/paternal role division, the weight of economic and professional constraints, the ambivalent influence of participants’ own parental models, and the importance of gender awareness for recognizing inequality in everyday family life.

These early results suggest that gender education and CSE should also be addressed within school-family educational alliances, not only in child-focused interventions. From the perspective of democratic education and intimate citizenship, supporting co-parenting in more equitable ways may represent a relevant pedagogical strategy for fostering relational justice, agency, and democratic coexistence from early childhood onward.