Microsoft Word Socialized Choices 31-12 pod docx

Socialized Choices - Labour Market Behaviour of Dutch Mothers  
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Their “narratives of choice” relate to a sense of self agency, their (young adult) 
attitudes towards work (especially towards economic independence) and 
motherhood. These all vary, which can be patterned in relation to their 
employment activity. More research is needed to shed light on the origins of these 
differences among the groups of mothers: it might be a result of early 
socialization patterns, as is shown by previous research (e.g. Barret and White 
2002; Cunningham, 2001; Trent and South, 1992), or could be driven by personal 
traits, since the interviewees all live in one homogenous institutional and social 
context.  
The extent to which choices have been released from society’s ties, freeing 
mothers to choose their own lifestyles, as is argued to be the case by post-
modernist theories, seems open for debate. Stay-at-home mothers describe how 
for various reasons they are not able to work their preferred number of hours, but 
rather are led by negative (work) experiences and their partners’ neutral attitudes 
towards mothers’ work ambitions. This seems to have been decisive in their 
behavioural steps towards becoming a full-time homemaker.  This finding 
confirms earlier research. “When women want to quit work, it is typically because 
their jobs are not good, not because they want to be full-time homemakers” 
(Thompson, 1989, p.851). “Women who face blocked mobility or other problems, 
are ‘pushed’ toward domesticity” (Risman, 1999, p.323). Stay-at-home mothers 
experience a tension between their (and others’) acceptance of their decision to 
give up work on the one hand, and societal expectations that they work part-time 
on the other. “Stay-at-home parents expressed that they felt society’s 
disappointment for not doing more challenging and interesting work” 
(Zimmerman, 2000, p.343). 
In addition, how do we value choice, when mothers ‘choose’ a life that fits 
society’s cultural standards perfectly, by working a small number of hours and 
being a good and present mother as well, which is the case for the privileged 
mothers? And how do we perceive choice when mothers try to combine 
motherhood and full-time work, sacrificing leisure time and sleep, while they still 
carry the main responsibility for the unpaid tasks? Evidence of movement 
towards role-sharing in the home is limited to only a small group of mothers.  The 
findings lead to the conclusion that mothers’ employment behaviour can be 
viewed a result of a dynamic interplay between a mother’s sense of self-agency, 
work preference and gender and work attitudes on the one hand, and her work-life 
experiences, her circumcised needs, society’s institutions and gender norms on 
the other. Put differently, Dutch mothers’ heterogeneous labour market behaviour 
cannot be understood as simple and varied expressions of free choice, but rather 
as mostly intentional, but also unintentional, outcomes of mothers’ diverse – 
though always engendered – perceptions of possibilities and constraints.  
The results might help the Dutch Government in their aim to achieve an active 
labour force of 80 per cent by 2020.
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 In particular, this is focussed upon the 
                                                           
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   Share of the total population (age 15-65) that aspires to work more than 12 hours a week, 

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Chapter 3 - A qualitative typology of Dutch mothers’ employment narratives 
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preferences of stay-at-home mothers. The study revealed that the current lifestyle 
of stay-at-home mothers does not correspond to their attitudes or preferred 
lifestyle, which is not as traditional or home-centred as one would expect. Their 
stories of how as young adults they missed a helping hand in choosing their 
profession, or why else they are not able to put their work preferences into 
practice, opens opportunities for achieving the Dutch political goal.  
Despite clear disparities, there are also uniformities among the mothers’ 
stories. In all narratives, the perception of gender, considerations for society’s 
norms and values in relation to the appropriate division of labour, and stereotypes 
of femininity and masculinity, are almost entirely absent. The interviewees are 
generally satisfied with the division of labour with their husband and are reluctant 
to make critical remarks, despite obvious inequalities among all groups. Previous 
research has already demonstrated that women have a discordant interest in 
seeing the domestic division of labour as unfair  (Beagan et al., 2008, p.656). 
“Women may feel that criticism of domestic inequality constitutes a personal 
attack on the men in their lives” (Kane and Sanchez, 1994, p.1081).  
The findings of this study reveal that many mothers have in the back of their 
minds vivid pictures of their fathers sitting on the couch with a newspaper, 
compared to which the contributions of their own husband seem a big 
improvement. These conclusions concerning the perception of gender 
demonstrate that societal expectations, which shape gender norms, have indeed, 
as Beagon (2007) formulates it, “gone underground”. The current upbringing 
along recognisable gender lines is justified by the expected natural differences, or 
else tends to be privatised: “it is probably my character”. A remarkable 
homogenous status quo of harmoniously accepting the differences between the 
spouses seems present in the Netherlands. There is no manifest conflict (Komter, 
1990b), although mothers might tacitly desire more equality (Wiesmann et al., 
2010). However, there are subtle differences between mothers, corresponding to 
their gender attitudes regarding the ‘acceptance’ of these inequalities. Mothers 
with traditional or adaptive attitudes often do not see inequalities, but perceive the 
situation as natural (mothers with small part-time jobs), or do not consider it right 
to complain about it (full-time mothers). Egalitarian mothers find it more or less 
normal that their husbands take on a large part of the unpaid work, but seem to 
surrender to the remaining inequalities. The present “narrative of non-
complaining” among Dutch mothers, as it may be part of the Dutch gender 
culture and also apparent in other affluent societies, might be one of the reasons 
why (Bianchi et al., 2000) the share of Dutch husbands partaking in household 
tasks and care has shown little progress since 1995 (Bucx, 2011), and why part-
time work remains such a popular option for most Dutch mothers. 

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