ABSTRACT
The empirical basis of this study is the interviews carried out with 79 young adult women. Whilst having their sex and age (between 18 and 27) in common, the women fell into two groups. The first group of 54 individuals were (at the time of the first interview) single, childless and employed full-time and have been called the ‘single workers’. The 25 women in the second group were partnered mothers in at most part-time employment, referred to as the ‘early mothers’. The reason for this difference was our concern with the relationship of employment and family in women’s lives. The two groups were strategically important because they represented two contrasting relationships. The single workers were located in employment but with the absence of partnership and motherhood. The early mothers were located in their own family group but were not in full-time employment.
