Mothers’ Autonomy or Social Constraints? Coherence and Inconsistency Between Attitudes and Employment Trajectories in Different Welfare Regimes

Abstract

This paper examines the coherence between mothers' work-family attitudes and behaviors using data from the Czech Republic, Germany, Great Britain, Norway and Spain from ISSP (1994, 2002 and 2012). Findings show that mother's attitudes are more constrained than Hakim's preference theory suggests: i) Between one and two thirds of mothers experience inconsistency between preferences and employment. (ii) Norwegian and Czech mothers' agency has increased in this period, while in Germany and Spain results are mixed. (iii) The options of British mothers with preschool children have worsened. (iv) Norway currently has the greatest coherence between preferences and employment trajectories.