42

Gender relations have been affected recently by profound changes and by the evolution of the parental roles for men and women. This article deals with an important aspect of this evolution, most notably the parental investment in children’s education as well as the result of that investment on the level of success of children. We differentiate between the individual investment of the father and mother and its effect on their sons and daughters. This analysis relies on the data from a trigenerational study in France which brings a temporal perspective to this issue through the comparison of the different generations and the retrospective data that it includes. It shows that human capital transfers tends to produce gendered patterns. In effect, it demonstrates the privileged bond between fathers and sons and mothers and daughters. However, overall the mother is more globally involved in the education of her children than the father is. This study also emphasises the three main variables regarding the success of the children: the level of education of the parents, mainly the mothers; the amount of the active encouragement of their children’s education from both parents; and the place of the child vis-a-vis his or her sisters and brothers. Classification JEL: C42, D12, I29, J16