Socialized Choices - Labour Market Behaviour of Dutch Mothers
38
part-time work, such as reduced career and salary prospects, are as prevalent in
the Netherlands as in other affluent countries (Keuzenkamp et al., 2008, p.10).
The duality of the moral part-time standard for mothers leads to the following
situation: on the surface, society portrays a ‘free choice’ towards work part-time,
but underneath there lies a moral expectation to only work part-time and
moderately outsource childcare. This moral standard might constrain mothers’
career options, but also enforces restrictions on the stay-at-home alternative.
Thus the question arises as to whether the solution of drawing mothers into
the labour market has itself now become a problem for their further emancipation,
under which mothers have genuine choices. Put differently,
has the initial
liberation of housewives through the possibility of part-time work unintentionally
turned into a moral obligation to only work part-time? Have ascribed gender roles
become more rigid (again) just through the possibility of part-time work?
In this light, what is especially interesting is why Dutch social institutions
have not led to one homogenous labour market pattern among women with
children. Although clearly part-time work is the most popular option, a varied
pattern remains visible. The supposed binding morality does not lead to the same
attitudes and behaviours for every mother. Apparently alternative and competing
cultural subsystems do exist, since women have different responses to similar
institutional and cultural settings. This study aims to explore the social origins of
this variety of choices.
39
Chapter 2
Theoretical framework and hypotheses
2.1 Introduction
There is a large body of research documenting the influence of social policy and
the prevailing normative standards, for example available childcare arrangements
and the appropriate gender-division of labour, as major explanatory factors for the
substantial differences between female employment patterns across countries (e.g.
Aboim, 2010; Daly, 2000; Esping-Andersen, 1990; Kremer, 2007; Mandel, 2009;
Pfau-effinger, 2006). Many studies emphasise that in order to understand
women’s labour market activity, we need to look at institutional factors as well as
cultural factors, given that institutional and cultural development can diverge
(Aboim, 2010; Daly and Lewis, 2000; Hummelsheim and Hirschle, 2010;
Kremer, 2007; Steiber and Haas, 2012, p.249; Pfau-Effinger, 2006). Before
elaborating the theoretical
framework of this study, I will give a brief impression
of these mainly macro sociological studies, and also some micro-economic
explanations, since these studies form a comprehensive tradition in enlarging our
understanding of why women display different labour market behaviour among
countries and in different financial situations.
2.2
Macro structural explanations
Initially, macro-sociological explanations focussed mainly on the social and
political institutions in society. These studies explained the heterogeneous
employment behaviour of women by the constraints and opportunities offered by
limited or more generous welfare states regarding their childcare services and
financial (tax) provisions towards parenting (Esping-Andersen, 1990). This
theory is largely acknowledged through the work of Esping-Andersen (1990) in
The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. He distinguished three welfare state
regimes: the conservative corporatist, the liberal and the social democratic
welfare regimes, which themselves are categorised by four dimensions: welfare
regime (state-market relations), stratification (class structures), social rights (de-
commodification), and de-familization (policies that enlarge individual’s
independence, away from the family) (Kremer, 2007, p.46). Within these theories
it is argued that if institutional factors undergo changes, they can explain
fluctuations in labour participation patterns over time.
Within social democratic states, such as Sweden and Denmark, “
the state
intervenes actively in the stratifications process by providing public services and
Socialized Choices - Labour Market Behaviour of Dutch Mothers
40
cash transfers” (Mandel, 2009, p.696). These states were initially viewed as the
most women-friendly states, giving women social security rights independent
from the family, including the provision of affordable, high quality childcare
services, long maternity leave and paid absences to care for sick children. In
Christian Democratic states, such as Germany, Austria, France and southern
European Italy and Spain, the church plays a salient role,
and social security is
only open for employed people. The state regulates working conditions and
provides social protection for sick and unemployed people. The family functions
as a social and financial safety net. Dutch scholars in particular have emphasised
that the Netherlands also falls into this category, referring to families’
responsibility towards childcare, although it was initially placed by Esping-
Andersen (1990) under the social democratic regime (Kremer, 2007, p.49). The
Anglo-Saxon (US, Canada, UK) countries generally belong to the liberal regime,
where individuals are highly dependent on the market and are unable to fall back
on state provisions, leading to high activity rates among men and women.
Mandel (2009) has criticised the view of Esping-Andersen (1990) who
clustered countries in a regime based on their welfare state characteristics and
then validated these clusters with predicted outcomes - mainly women’s
employment levels. She favoured a holistic perspective by analysing relations
between different dimensions of gender
inequality within societies, since societies
frequently exhibit both gender-egalitarian and inegalitarian features. Analysing
societies’ specific institutional configurations of gender inequality and placing
them in a context, rather than addressing single outcomes, opens a wider
perspective on gender stratification (Mandel, 2009, p.694
). For example, some
conservative welfare regimes, like Spain, have comparatively egalitarian labour
markets with respect to occupational segregation and earnings. This can be
explained by the fact that women who are employed in these countries are more
selective and better educated than in other
countries, “
and consequently are better
able to integrate into a labour market that does not offer women special terms of
employment” (Mandel, 2009, p.710).
Nonetheless, it is clear that national factors are able to explain differences in
labour participation levels between countries. However, they cannot explain
variation in the labour participation of mothers in a single country at any one
point in time, unless the same policies have a different impact on different groups
of mothers – which then would require a separate explanation.
2.3 Cultural
explanations
Other theorists have emphasised a second type of macro factor that can explain
differences in female labour participation, namely cultural factors. People use
societies’ normative (gender) standards and culture, such as the definition of
appropriate childcare and the valuation of unpaid work,
as orientation for their
behaviour (Aboim, 2010; Daly and Lewis, 2000; Hummelsheim and Hirschle,
2010; Kremer, 2007; Pfau-Effinger, 2006). Kremer (2007) argued that welfare