Microsoft Word Socialized Choices 31-12 pod docx

Chapter 5 - The social origins of Dutch mothers’ gender values and ideal family life 
131 
paid job with care tasks at home (Plantenga, 1996). In the same period, employers 
wanted to increase the flexibility of their workforce, for which the use of part-
time work was one solution. Although at first the trade unions were reluctant to 
support part-time work, over the course of the 1980s they became more positive, 
negotiating clauses on the equal treatment of part-time workers in collective 
labour agreements (Kremer, 2007; Visser and Hemerijck, 1997). Many branches 
started to offer family-friendly arrangements which benefitted part-time worker 
for men and women (Tijdens, 2006). The Working Hours Adjustment Act of 
2000 served to provide an employee with the right to request a reduction in the 
number of work hours, which could not be dismissed by the employer unless they 
could prove that such a move would be detrimental to the company’s interests 
(Plantenga, 2002; Van Doorne-Huiskes and Schippers, 2010).  
At the same time, Dutch institutional care arrangements, such as parental 
leave schemes, the tax system, primary school timetables, and the quality, cost 
and availability of formal childcare, do not facilitate full-time work for mothers 
(Beets et al., 1997; Kremer, 2007; Plantenga, 2002). And although there is 
political and societal support for the dual carer/ worker model – 50 per cent of 
Dutch parents endorse the egalitarian ideal of parental sharing (Merens et al., 
2011) – contradictory social norms are also apparent. Compared to other 
European countries, relatively few Dutch couples agree that both partners should 
contribute to the household income (Haas et al., 2006). Moreover, 63 per cent of 
Dutch people consider a working week of two days or less to be the ideal for 
mothers with children up to the age of four, and only 10 per cent endorse the ideal 
of working four or five days per week (Merens et al., 2011, p.130).  
This concise overview of structural and cultural features of the Netherlands 
sheds some light on the question of why so many Dutch mothers work part-time. 
However, these national characteristics have not resulted in a uniform part-time 
labour market pattern for women with children, but in a rather varied pattern. 
This study aims to contribute to a better understanding of this variation. 
5.3 
Theoretical framework  
Hakim (2000) was among the first scholars to claim that attitudinal factors, in 
particular work-life preferences, are important in explaining female employment 
patterns. According to Hakim, mothers’ ideas about labour market participation 
and childcare are decisive factors in explaining the extent to which mothers 
participate in paid work and make use of childcare arrangements. Due to various 
social and economic changes that started in the late 20
th
 century, such as the 
contraceptive revolution, the equal opportunity revolution and the expansion of 
white collar occupations, individual lifestyle preferences nowadays play a more 
important role in mothers’ decisions about participating in paid work and making 
use of childcare arrangements than do macro-level institutions (Hakim, 2000). 
Hakim categorises these personal lifestyle preferences of women into three ideal-
typical preferences which are apparent in most Western societies: home-centred 

---

Socialized Choices - Labour Market Behaviour of Dutch Mothers 
132 
preferences (seen in about 20% of women), meaning that children and family are 
a woman’s main concern in life; work centred preferences (about 20%), meaning 
that a woman’s priority in life is employment and/or self-development; and 
adaptive preferences (about 60%), under which a woman has no explicit priority, 
but tries to reconcile work and family.  
Many researchers have disputed post-modern theories, such as Hakim’s, as 
well as the research methods used (Crompton and Harris, 1998; Kan, 2007). The 
main argument is that women’s work decisions are much more complex than can 
be explained by personal preferences alone (McDonald et al., 2006; Tomlinson, 
2006). Factors such as job characteristics, families’ financial necessity, women’s 
educational attainment, their ethnic and social background, their employment 
record and age, all affect women’s employment perspectives (Charles and Harris, 
2007; Hoffnung and Williams, 2013; Kangas and Rostgaard, 2007; Reynolds, 
2003). Moreover, choices are often shaped in the context of inequality as a result 
of pre-existing gender assumptions about women’s appropriate roles at home and 
in the labour market (Charles and Harris, 2007; Duncan, 2005; Everingham et al., 
2007; Halrynjo and Lyng, 2009; McDonald et al., 2006). Other scholars under-
score the reciprocal character of attitudes and work experiences. Experiences in 
education, work and family life also produce changes in individual attitudes 
(Cunningham et al., 2005; Kan, 2007; Kraaykamp, 2012; Steiber and Haas, 
2012). 
Nevertheless, several follow-up studies, including longitudinal research, have 
demonstrated the validity of preference theory (Cloïn, 2010; Cunningham et al., 
2005; Hoffnung, 2004; Marks and Houston, 2002a, 2002b; Portegijs et al., 2008b; 
Van Wel and Knijn, 2007). For example, Beets et al. (1997) showed, in a 
longitudinal study among young Dutch adults (18 to 26 years old) between 1987 
and 1991 that besides the present characteristics of their jobs and their 
educational attainment, their earlier gender role orientation is an important 
predictor of their later intention to reconcile family and work roles. Cunningham 
et al. (2005) showed in a longitudinal study of American young adults, spanning 
the period from 1962 to 1993, that young adult women who are egalitarian 
minded are more likely to engage in full-time employment eight years later than 
women who have traditional views when they are young. Hoffnung (2004) found, 
based on a longitudinal study among 178 women of five New England (US) 
colleges and universities, that the plans of senior students regarding their future 
work and family life were significantly associated with their educational 
achievement and occupational statuses seven years later.  
5.4 
General values and personal ideals 
Other studies have found differences between general gender values and personal 
preferences in their relationships with employment activity (Cloïn, 2010; Hakim, 
2003 a-c; Marks and Houston, 2002a; Risman et al. 1999). Hakim compares the 
difference between personal lifestyle preferences (including the ideal family life) 

---