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Chapter 8 - Synthesis: overview and discussion 
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a mother’s ideal was to be a full-time homemaker, her preferred number of work 
hours appeared considerably smaller than if her ideal was an equal division of 
paid and unpaid work with her partner. A mother’s preferred number of hours 
was to a lesser extent related to her general gender values. These results 
confirmed earlier research. What is considered appropriate for others appears not 
always ideal for oneself. General gender values can be vague and inconsistent 
with peoples’ own personal plans, and people’s answers on questions about their 
general values can be prone to social desirability (Ajzen and Fishbein, 2005, 
p.176; Hakim, 2003c, p.63; Marks and Houston 2002b, p.322; Smithson and 
Stoke, 2005). 
The study also showed that work preferences do not easily adapt to actual 
circumstances, since neither the presence nor the income of a partner did exert an 
effect on a mothers work preferences, whereas a higher income of her partner did 
diminish her actual number of hours worked. It was further found that a mother’s 
age, the number of children she has, and the presence of a partner all directly 
relate to a mother’s work preference. Remarkably, a mother’s age had an opposite 
relation to work preferences, compared to the relationship between her age and 
her actual work hours. An older mother wishes to have more hours in paid work 
compared to younger mothers, presumably because if her children are now grown 
up, she gains more time to work. Yet, her actual hours in paid work are less 
compared to younger mothers. Besides the cohort effect, where younger 
generations of mothers seem more likely to stay in paid work after the birth of 
their first child than older generations (Lut, Van Galen and Latten, 2010), the 
result possibly reveals that a mother’s older age makes it more difficult for her to 
put her preference into practice, due to an actual or perceived (by employers) 
reduction of her productivity level.  
Whether or not a respondent’s mother was in paid work when the respondent 
was a 12-year-old child also directly affected her subsequent work preferences 
years later. Other studies have also demonstrated that the presence of a working 
mother during childhood positively affects the number of work hours of her adult 
daughter (Lut, Van Galen and Latten, 2010; Van Putten et al., 2008) and their 
participation decision (Sanders, 1997; Cloïn, 2010). The analysis of this study, 
however, showed that the effect of a mother in paid work is also mediated by her 
daughter’s work preferences. Moreover, the results suggest that the effect of the 
presence of a working mother in childhood seems larger than previous studies 
have shown, since there is also a relationship between a working mother and a 
daughter’s general and personal gender and work attitude. These results are not 
only interesting in themselves, but also reveal that at least part of a mother’s 
attitudes and preferences arose prior to her labour market behaviour.  
Furthermore, the qualitative findings revealed that those mothers who prefer a 
relatively small number of work hours often perceive it as their natural role to 
execute most of the unpaid family tasks, which is sensed as a self-evident 
situation. The traditional/adaptive interviewees appeared mostly satisfied with the 

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Socialized Choices - Labour Market Behaviour of Dutch Mothers  
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division of domestic work with their partners, which often meant approximately 
80 per cent of the tasks for the mothers and 20 per cent for the fathers.   
Unexpectedly, the qualitative study also disclosed that, despite similar work 
preferences, full-time homemakers appear slightly more egalitarian than mothers 
with small part-time jobs. The negative experience of running a household fully 
by themselves, combined with missing work and being exposed to the often 
disconcerting comments from those in their social environment on their ‘choice’ 
to be full-time homemakers, seemed to render full-time home-makers’ general 
gender values more egalitarian. Moreover, they appeared reluctant to judge other 
mothers’ employment choices, concluding that everybody should do what they 
want. This finding exemplifies the dynamic and reciprocal character of attitudes 
and behavioural experiences. Yet, stay-at-home mothers did not adapt their 
gender attitudes in a direction that could justify their current lifestyle, as would be 
argued by (cognitive) dissonant theorists (Festinger et al., 1956; Kroska and 
Elman, 2009). Quite the opposite is observed: full-time homemakers seem to 
have become almost more egalitarian, rubbing against the grain so to speak, and 
possibly expressing signs of aversion to the judgement of other mothers’ choices, 
as a reaction to the commentaries they received on their own lifestyle.  
The qualitative findings of this study also showed that despite disparities 
among mothers’ attitudes, there were also many similarities between mothers’ 
histories. Almost all interviewees appeared remarkably satisfied with the division 
of labour with their husbands and were reluctant to express dissatisfaction. 
Possibly this is due to them not wishing to criticise the men in their lives, which 
might feel like a ‘betrayal’ and running contrary to the Western ideology of 
romantic love (Beagan et al., 2008, p.656; Kane and Sanchez, 1994, p.1081). It 
may also be a consequence of the contemporary notion of free choice wherein 
people are made responsible for their own choices and are assumed to be able to 
write down their own biographies (Everingham et al., 2007). The narrative of 
personal responsibility can lead to internal dialogues like: ‘I am not satisfied, but 
I am the one to blame’ and ‘I’d better remain silent’. Such mechanisms, which are 
sensed as personal, may involve latent conflicts among the spouses, meaning 
there is absence of manifest conflict, although the situation is perceived as 
undesirable by at least one of them. Nonetheless, more frequently the narratives 
of the interviewees revealed ‘invisible power’, whereby the conjugal relationship 
is characterised by accepted norms and common-sense ideas about men and 
women, which are seen as ‘natural’ and therefore unquestioned, despite inequality 
being present (Komter, 1990a).
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  Komter (1990a) distinguished three forms of power: manifest, latent and invisible power.  Within 
manifest power, there are open attempts to change the existing inequalities within power relations, 
which often result in conflict. Within latent power, there is absence of conflict although the 
unequal situation is perceived as undesirable. Invisible power is characterised by accepted norms 
and common-sense ideas, which are seen as natural (self-evident) facts and therefore 
unquestioned, although unequal power relations are present. 

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