Microsoft Word Socialized Choices 31-12 pod docx

 
 

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Chapter 4 
 The vital and stabilising role of work preferences within Dutch 
mothers’ labour market decisions 
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4.1 Introduction 
There is a large body of research documenting the strong increase in female 
labour market participation, the substantial differences between female 
employment patterns across countries, and the influence of social policy and the 
prevailing gender and care culture as major explanatory factors (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 (Steiber and 
Haas, 2012, p.249). However, institutions and cultural norms may not affect 
every woman in the same way. On the contrary, Steiber and Haas (2012) 
concluded, in their state-of-the-art research article on women’s employment 
patterns, that there is mounting evidence that institutions have different effects on 
different types of women (p.359). Consequently, in most Western countries the 
female employment pattern is rather heterogeneous.  
Relatively few studies focus on the variation of employment patterns within a 
country. These studies usually start from the micro-economic assumption that the 
number of hours a person prefers to work is the result of a rational choice 
between income and leisure (Becker, 1965; Steiber and Haas, 2012). Recent 
studies usually also include attitudinal factors to explain differences in female 
employment (Cloïn 2010; Kraaykamp, 2012; Steiber and Haas, 2009, 2012). This 
study builds on this scientific work and tries to combine both perspectives. This 
chapter’s main contribution is to shed more light on the causes of mother’s 
varying labour market behaviour in one country, viz. the Netherlands.  
I consider the Netherlands an interesting case in which to study the variation 
at the individual level, for two reasons. Firstly, compared to other Western 
countries, the Netherlands exhibits a particular diverse female working pattern 
(table 1), especially among mothers. In 2010, 32.4 per cent of mothers were not in 
paid work, 42.5 per cent worked between 12 to 24 hours a week, 13.8 per cent 
worked 25 to 35 hours a week, and 11.3 per cent worked 36 hours or more (CBS 
Statline, 2011). Secondly, Dutch women appear to have more opportunities than 
                                                           
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  This chapter is based on a paper, co-authored by Paul de Beer, and is submitted to a blind peer-
reviewed journal. 
 

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Socialized Choices - Labour Market Behaviour of Dutch Mothers 
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those in other affluent countries to turn their work preferences into practice 
(Hakim 2003c; Plantenga, 2002). Working time laws
 
and collective agreements 
between employers’ associations and trade unions at the industry level all 
facilitate part-time work (Kremer, 2007; Tijdens, 2006; Van Doorne-Huiskes and 
Schipper, 2010). Research has shown that also in other Western countries, many 
mothers would prefer part-time work if their employers would allow it (Fagan, 
2001; Jacob, 2008; Portegijs et al., 2008b). Admittedly, this part-time preference 
must be viewed within the context of engendered societal expectations regarding 
parenting and work (Charles and Harris, 2007; Duncan, 2005; Halrynjo and Lyng, 
2009). Nonetheless, not all Dutch mothers work part-time. Some have a full-time 
job, while others are not employed at all. It is therefore interesting to examine 
what factors explain these different choices.  
This study contributes to the existing knowledge of female labour 
participation in three ways. 
Firstly, this study makes both a theoretical and an empirical distinction 
between work preferences (operationalised as the preferred number of work 
hours), and personal gender and work attitudes. Most sociological studies do not 
distinguish between the more concrete work preferences on the one hand, and 
(personal) gender and work attitudes on the other. Although the concepts are 
certainly related, I argue, mainly based on theories of social psychology (Ajzen, 
1991; Ajzen and Fishbein, 1973, 2005), that work preferences and gender and 
work attitudes are different concepts and must be analysed separately. This study 
focuses on the mediating role of preferences between work and gender attitudes 
on the one hand, and actual labour market behaviour on the other.   
Secondly, most studies of the relationship between attitudes and behaviour do 
not distinguish between people’s general values and their personal attitudes. 
General gender values refer to what people consider to be appropriate for other 
people regarding the division of tasks between spouses, while personal gender 
attitudes refer to a person’s ideal with respect to the division of labour in one’s 
own family life (Hakim 2000, 2003a and 2003b). Personal gender attitudes 
appear to be more strongly related to labour market behaviour than general 
gender values (Cloïn, 2010; Hakim, 2003a-c; Marks and Houston, 2002a; Risman 
et al., 1999). By including both types of attitudes in the analysis of Dutch 
mothers’ labour market preferences and behaviour, their relative impact can be 
compared.  
Thirdly, labour market studies that include gender and work attitudes 
increasingly focus on the causality of the relationship between attitudes and 
behaviour 
(Cunningham et al., 2005; Himmelweit and Sigala, 2004; Jansen and 
Kalmijn, 2000; Kan, 2007; Kraaykamp, 2012; Steiber and Haas, 2009, 2012). 
Hakim (2003a, 2003b) claimed that women’s personal lifestyle preferences are 
important indicators of their future labour participation. Nonetheless, Steiber and 
Haas (2012) conclude in their cutting-edge research article that the process of 
adaptation of attitudes to actual behaviour is more common than the attitude-
based choice of behaviours (p.347). This study tries to shed some light on the 

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