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Chapter 7 - Exploring the social biographical patterns of Dutch mothers’ attitudes 
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work.”  (Juul, 40 years old, 2 children, 32 hours, egalitarian, university 
degree). 
Thus, although mothers’ egalitarian attitudes often have origins in their youth, 
at least at one point in their career they also have been stimulated by their bosses 
and colleagues, which re-enforced their support to equal gender roles and 
attachment to the labour market. 
Traditional/adaptive women have fewer examples or stories of supervisors or 
colleagues who have been particularly stimulating towards their performances. 
This is expected to be as a consequence of the fact that they have spent fewer 
hours in paid labour. However, previous research has demonstrated that mothers’ 
job ambitions generally are often neglected (Heilman and Okimoto, 2008; King, 
2006). 
7.8 Conclusions 
 
Various empirical Dutch studies have shown that the diversity of female 
employment in the Netherlands is related to women’s diverse gender and work 
attitudes (Beets et al., 1997; Cloïn, 2010; Hooghiemstra, 2000; Kraaykamp, 2012; 
Portegijs et al., 2008). This qualitative and explorative study sheds light on the 
question of whether an explanation for this diversity lies in different (prior) micro 
socialization processes. Do different micro socialization processes reveal the 
origins of Dutch mothers’ diverse personal gender and work attitudes?   
The findings show how differences in primary socialization are relevant to an 
understanding of Dutch mothers’ current diverse gender and work attitudes. 
Various mechanisms and patterns that emerged seem to have had discerning 
effects. Firstly, it appeared that intergenerational influence mainly occurs via the 
transmission of mental symbols, both intentionally and unintentionally, and 
especially diffused by the respondent’s own mother, as demonstrated by earlier 
research (Moen et al., 1997; Thornton et al., 1983). Examples of these maternal 
mental codes are the respondents’ mothers’ own attitudes towards the traditional 
mother role, like their being satisfied or unsatisfied, and their being consenting or 
reluctant. The interviewees with traditional/adaptive gender attitudes seemed 
almost unquestionably familiarized with the silent presence and consenting 
performance of unpaid tasks by their own mothers. Now being mothers 
themselves, they naturally and automatically identify with the traditional ‘mother 
role’.  The narratives of mothers with egalitarian attitudes stood out due to their 
strong memories of their own mother’s presence. She could be the dominant sole 
provider, or else could be unsatisfied with the mother-role. There were also few 
examples where the maternal codes were too penetrating and in cases even 
irritated their daughters. Subsequently such mothers functioned as anti-examples, 
unintentionally causing their daughters to go on and develop opposite attitudes. In 
addition, the maternal message that one should achieve economic independence 

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Socialized Choices - Labour Market Behaviour of Dutch Mothers 
182 
appeared to be a strong verbal code in relation to mothers’ current gender and 
work attitudes.  
The findings further illustrate that it is relevant to notice those things that were 
absent from the narratives of mothers’ childhoods. For example, there may have 
lacked a specific message relating to their daughter’s future profession. When 
mothers have not been stimulated (either verbally or mentally) to consider their 
professional life seriously, it seemed difficult to overcome this arrearage later in 
life. The unfavourable consequences of an absence of professional support 
seemed prevalent in mothers’ secondary socialization processes. A significant 
parental message towards work and financial autonomy appeared more present in 
the childhood stories of mothers with egalitarian attitudes, and more absent in the 
recollections of traditional/adaptive mothers. Additionally, some specific and 
unusual family situations called upon daughters to become responsible at a very 
young age. The interviewees who now support symmetrical gender roles often 
seemed in different ways more or less ‘forced’ to grow up as independent young 
women very quickly – a childhood characteristic resulting in the appearance that 
they are well-equipped for the labour market.  
With respect to processes of secondary socialization, it seems unlikely that the 
part of personal gender and work attitudes with origins in childhood may easily 
adjust to changing circumstances. On the contrary, mothers’ narratives revealed 
that some parental mental and verbal symbols still affect whether or not they put 
themselves into new social settings (Mason, 2000; Ridgeway and Correl, 2004; 
Risman, 2004). Such a process can otherwise be referred to as that of self-
selection (Bandura, 1977; Berger and Luckmann, 1967). This study confirms, for 
example, that in general, people seek and marry partners with a similar sex-role 
ideology as their own (Hoffnung and Willimans, 2013; Inman-Amos et al., 1994; 
Uunk, 1996). Egalitarian mothers often have found ‘fitting’ partners who are 
stimulating towards their career ambitions. This is contrary to the conjugal 
discussions within traditional/adaptive couples, where it is not evident that 
mothers work (also Moen and Dempster-McClain, 1987, p.587).  
Furthermore, the study revealed a mechanism of intensifying egalitarian 
attitudes by encouraging supervisors. This result is interesting because previous 
research demonstrated that mothers’ ambitions are mostly neglected by 
supervisors, contributing to the withdrawal of mothers from the labour market 
(Estes, 2005; Karatepe and Kilic, 2007; King 2008; Moen and Yu, 2000).  
Furthermore, a glimpse of the potential positive influence of teachers as helping 
hands in mothers’ professional choices showed how mother’s career intentions 
can be intensified by people’s encouragement, but also left undeveloped or 
weakened by a lack of social support.  
The impact of peer groups on mothers’ gender and work attitudes remained 
undetermined. The interviewed mothers generally did not belong to homogenous 
peer groups. Nonetheless, anonymous people ‘out there’ seemed, at least in the 
mind of some interviewees, able to pressurise mothers’ feelings. Stay-at-home 
mothers in particular appeared to be sensitive to the critical gaze and comments 

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