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Maternal employment and gender role attitudes: dissonance among British men and women in the transition to parenthood

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  • Pia Schober
  • Jacqueline Scott

Abstract

This study examines how changes in gender role attitudes of couples after childbirth relate to women’s paid work and the type of childcare used. Identifying attitude-practice dissonances matters because how they get resolved influences mothers’ future employment. Previous research examined changes in women’s attitudes and employment, or spouses’ adaptations to each others’ attitudes. This is extended by considering how women and men in couples simultaneously adapt to parenthood in terms of attitude and behavioural changes and by exploring indirect effects of economic constraints. Structural equation models and regression analysis based on the British Household Panel Survey (1991-2007) are applied. The results suggest that less traditional attitudes among women and men are more likely in couples where women’s postnatal labour market participation and the use of formal childcare contradict their traditional prenatal attitudes. Women’s prenatal earnings have an indirect effect on attitude change of both partners through incentives for maternal employment.

Suggested Citation

  • Pia Schober & Jacqueline Scott, 2012. "Maternal employment and gender role attitudes: dissonance among British men and women in the transition to parenthood," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 26(3), pages 514-530, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:26:y:2012:i:3:p:514-530
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Maja Debacker, 2008. "Care strategies among high- and low-skilled mothers: a world of difference?," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 22(3), pages 527-545, September.
    2. Ann Berrington & Yongjian Hu & Peter W. F. Smith & Patrick Sturgis, 2008. "A graphical chain model for reciprocal relationships between women's gender role attitudes and labour force participation," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 171(1), pages 89-108, January.
    3. Vanessa Gash, 2008. "Preference or constraint? Part-time workers' transitions in Denmark, France and the United Kingdom," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 22(4), pages 655-674, December.
    4. Deborah Smeaton, 2006. "Work return rates after childbirth in the UK - trends, determinants and implications: a comparison of cohorts born in 1958 and 1970," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 20(1), pages 5-25, March.
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