Microsoft Word Socialized Choices 31-12 pod docx

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 

---