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Chapter 7 - Exploring the social biographical patterns of Dutch mothers’ attitudes 
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of the interviews were made. In order to select the interviewees, four categories 
of mothers were differentiated according to their employment patterns: mothers 
who work 0 hours (referred to as stay-at-home mothers or full-time homemakers), 
12 to 24 hours a week (mothers with a small part-time job), 25 to 35 hours 
(mothers with a large part-time job) and 36 hours or more (full-time working 
mothers).  
As is well known, higher educational levels lead to higher levels of labour 
participation, especially among mothers (Merens et al., 2011). Sufficient 
education is then understood as a precondition for labour market participation. 
For example, higher educated women work more, because their higher wage 
allows them to pay for child-care facilities. They may also have been exposed 
more to critical ideas and formed career-oriented networks (Cunningham et al., 
2005; Doorewaard et al., 2004, p.11). In 2009, 37 per cent of Dutch higher-
educated mothers worked more than 35 hours per week, compared to only 18 per 
cent of lower-educated mothers. 52 per cent of lower-educated mothers did not 
participate in the labour market at all, as compared to 12 per cent of higher-
educated mothers (Central Bureau of Statistics, Statline, 2011). In each of the 
four employment categories, there were approximately equal numbers of lower- 
(intermediate vocational level and lower) and higher- educated mothers (higher 
vocational level and university).  
For theoretical reasons, the sample of interviewed mothers was drawn largely 
within one urban area, Amsterdam. In this way, differences in employment 
behaviour and attitudes among respondents do not differ with respect to the 
influence of structural and cultural factors that may diverge between urban and 
rural areas, such as the availability of childcare provisions, jobs and religiousness, 
which could also affect potential differences in gender and work attitudes.  
In order to achieve good correspondence between research questions and 
sampling, a strategy of purposeful sampling had to be followed (Bryman, 2008, 
p.458-459). To be able to fill all eight categories (four along employment patterns 
and two along educational levels) of mothers within one area equally, the 
respondents were found using the snowball method. The collection of material 
ended when theoretical saturation was reached, and new interviewees did not 
bring more diversity. Quite clearly this research method cannot produce a 
statistically representative sample, since it relies upon the social contacts between 
individuals to trace additional contacts. The research method, however, does 
permit revealing the reciprocal character between primary and secondary 
socialization, and is able to highlight what mothers consider as being relevant 
when describing their childhood and further social relational contexts.  
Firstly, a small group of mothers in the social environment of the researcher, 
the so-called weak ties (Granovetter, 1973), was approached, especially at a 
primary school in Amsterdam (Old West Quarter). Subsequently, the other 
respondents were approached on the advice of the first group of respondents.  

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Socialized Choices - Labour Market Behaviour of Dutch Mothers 
172 
Research group 
The interviewed mothers were born between 1962 and 1980. Their average age 
was 39.3 years. Seven interviewees (18 per cent) had a non-Dutch background (at 
least one parent born outside the Netherlands). Of the total female population of 
Amsterdam, 50 per cent has a non-Dutch background, so non-native women are 
underrepresented in the research group (Vrouwenemancipatie in Amsterdam 
2011). This also holds for single mothers, in that only four of the interviewed 
mothers had been divorced. Religious mothers were also underrepresented. 
However, as mentioned, ethnicity, religiousness and the presence of a spouse 
were not discriminating factors in selecting the research group, and the aim and 
character of the research is not statistical representativeness.  
Within the research group, 23 mothers were highly educated (higher 
vocational education and university), and 16 lower educated (intermediate 
vocational education and lower). Ten mothers were full-time homemakers, eight 
mothers had a small part-time job (12 to 24 hours), eleven mothers had a large 
part-time job (25 to 35 hours) and ten mothers worked full-time.  
Interview questions 
The interviews can be characterised as oral life history interviews (Bryman, 
2008). The interviewees were invited to look back at specific moments in their 
lives, especially during childhood, while also concentrating on the behavioural 
steps of later social life, from finishing high school, choosing a continuation 
course, entering their first job and giving birth to their first child. While focusing 
on these specific life moments, mothers were especially encouraged to consider 
the presence of supportive ‘others’ who had possibly encouraged them in 
developing their professional lives.  
The interviews were built on several central themes: gender attitudes, work 
attitudes, parental socialization, and the influence of significant others. Several 
open questions were asked in order to discover how and with which words 
women refer to these themes themselves. Iterative cycles formed the base of the 
research. 
Personal gender attitudes refer to a mother’s desired division of labour with 
her own spouse. This personal ideal was more closely examined by mother’s 
satisfaction with her current division of labour. A traditional personal gender 
attitude means a desire to have the main responsibility at home, while her partner 
is in paid work. An egalitarian personal gender attitude implies a wish to share 
paid and unpaid work equally. Adaptive attitudes are here defined as the personal 
desires to combine paid work and family tasks, with consent to the idea that 
mothers have more responsibilities at home and fathers may work full-time. (Do 
you have ideas about the ideal division of labour with your spouse? Are you 
satisfied with your own current division of labour? What would you like to 
change?). Also some questions were asked about her general ideas about the ideal 

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