Gender and first union dissolution

The aim of the paper is to evaluate the effect of gender differences and inequalities on the stability of a partnership union. The analysis is based on the 1996 Fertility and Family Survey (FFS) data for Italy, and we used the two independent samples of man and women. The analysis is based on a piecewise-linear hazard model. We may conclude that a number of individual characteristics (level of education and religiousness) have the same effect on union stability whether they are measured for man or woman. The same applies to the nature of the union itself (marriage or cohabitation, early or late) and to changes in family composition (the arrival of any child). An important difference is observed in relation to employment status: if a woman is employed full time, the risk of her union dissolving is higher than for non-working women; the same condition for men has precisely the opposite effect.