ABSTRACT
Family obligations and the gendered division of labour within the family differ substantially, and European welfare states intervene in the family to different degrees, in various forms and with different aims (cf. Gauthier 1996; Millar and Warman 1996; Pfau-Effinger 1999). In particular, there are great differences in the social practice of motherhood, i.e. the degree and form of women’s participation in paid work during the period of active motherhood. The impact of family policies on social practices is often seen as deterministic, with women acting according to the incentives and disincentives provided by welfare state policies. However, social practices cannot be explained as a simple reaction to welfare policies: individual behaviour also refers to cultural values and norms (see Hakim 1999). In this vein, Duncan and Edwards (1999) argue that mothers also act according to ‘gendered moral rationalities’, in which their priorities are differentially shaped by socially negotiated notions of what is ‘the right thing to do’. An alternative position argues that women in general want to gain autonomy through employment, and therefore are oriented towards lifelong full-time employment. In this view, other choices such as part-time work or breaks in employment to undertake unpaid family work are caused by institutional restrictions, and therefore these choices are only second best. However, the assumption that there is a homogenous pattern of action and orientation for women with respect to family and paid work throughout Western Europe is not supported by empirical research (Pfau-Effinger 1998, 2000; Crompton and Harris 1998). Rather, we must examine the idea that women’s social practices are heavily influenced by predominant ideals and values concerning the ‘correct’ division of labour and form of generational relations inside the family. It is necessary, therefore, to systematically include culture – the dimension of societal ideas, meanings and values – in any theoretical framework explaining the social practices of motherhood, and to theorise and analyse the ways in which culture, institutions, structure and social action are interrelated (Pfau-Effinger 2000).
