Who cares? The informal childcare gender gap in Poland – spatiotemporal perspective
Journal cover , no. 78, year 2026, title Regional Development and Regional Policy
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Keywords

informal childcare gender gap
childcare absenteeism
health economics
labour market
space-time analysis
GIS

How to Cite

Żółtaszek, A., & Lewandowska-Gwarda, K. (2026). Who cares? The informal childcare gender gap in Poland – spatiotemporal perspective. Rozwój Regionalny I Polityka Regionalna, (78), 39–54. https://doi.org/10.14746/rrpr.2026.78.04

Abstract

The main objective of the study was to quantify the gender gap in childcare-related medical leave from work in Poland and to examine its spatial and temporal variations. The analysis was based on statistical data from the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) for the years 2019 and 2024 at the county (powiat) level, employing GIS methods, exploratory spatial data analysis, and statistical tests, including Pearson’s correlation coefficient, the paired-samples one-tailed t-test, and the non-parametric pairwise Dunn’s test. The results indicate substantial and widening disparities between women and men, with women bearing a disproportionately greater burden. This phenomenon is particularly pronounced in the northern and eastern regions of the country.

https://doi.org/10.14746/rrpr.2026.78.04
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Funding

We gratefully acknowledge the Statistical Research Division in the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Projections of the Social Insurance Institution (Wyd- ział Badań Statystycznych w Departamencie Statystyki i Prognoz Aktuarialnych Zakładu Ubezpieczeń Społecznych) for making the data used in this research available.

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