Mothers with young children are influenced in their choice to work (and how many hours work) by their background, by their environment and by the Dutch social norm of part-time work.
It is often thought that they are free to make their choice, but this turns out to be more limited than we thought.
Table of contents
The new social norm for mothers with young children is part-time work, according to research by Justine Ruitenberg. She will receive her PhD with this research at the University of Amsterdam in January. Both groups of mothers – full-time working mothers and stay-at-home mothers – are faced with misunderstanding and blame from their social environment. In addition to this misunderstanding, working mothers experience the pressure to use childcare as little as possible.
The stay-at-home mothers interviewed by Justine generally want to work. However, they feel hindered in this because of the negative experiences on the labor market and partners who do not want to make concessions with regard to their own work. Without making a conscious choice, they have unintentionally taken over the care of the children completely. Is this happening as a result of the economic crisis? Looking at the household tasks, it appears that working Dutch mothers also take on much more household and parenting tasks than their partners. You don't hear about this from the interviewed mothers, they justify the above based on difference in character or the 'natural' differences between men and women.
Whereas in the past inequalities between men and women were seen as a social problem that binds women together, it now seems that this is being handled more as a private matter. And with that, the political emancipation struggle has become personal again, according to Ruitenberg. The research does show that thirty percent of mothers work many hours because they want to be economically independent. Stimulated by a strong mother, or by a mother who was dissatisfied with her 'household existence', these daughters want to get things right.
Fortunately, some of the women feel supported in their careers by parents, teachers, partners and bosses, so that they more often look for an equal division of roles with their partner and a balanced division of work. This is unfortunately a minority. The rest is to a greater or lesser extent 'forced' into the role they have been given. The study is based on a survey of 935 mothers with at least one child aged 12 years or younger living at home. In addition, 39 mothers were interviewed.
Tell me… how about you?
