Just like mom?: the intergenerational reproduction of women's paid work

TY - JOUR

T1 - Just like mom?: the intergenerational reproduction of women's paid work

AU - van Putten, A.E.

AU - Dykstra, P.A.

AU - Schippers, J.

N1 - Reporting year: 2008

PY - 2008

Y1 - 2008

N2 - Given the increasing female labour force participation rates in recent decades, the question arises as to whether the daughters of working mothers show different job patterns than the daughters of homemakers. Using data from a sample of 3,169 adult women in the 2002–2004 wave of the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study, we find that women who were raised by a working mother work about two more hours per week than those raised by a homemaking mother. The likelihood that women are currently in the labour market is not affected by their mother’s past labour force participation. Women’s own educational achievement and the presence of children younger than 12 are the strongest determinants of their participation and work hours. Our findings add to the growing evidence that parental behaviours during childhood have long-reaching consequences for children’s behaviours, also in the realm of paid work. This provides a useful explanation for the persisting gender gap in work hours across Europe, in addition to the conventional explanations of education, occupational history and family formation.

AB - Given the increasing female labour force participation rates in recent decades, the question arises as to whether the daughters of working mothers show different job patterns than the daughters of homemakers. Using data from a sample of 3,169 adult women in the 2002–2004 wave of the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study, we find that women who were raised by a working mother work about two more hours per week than those raised by a homemaking mother. The likelihood that women are currently in the labour market is not affected by their mother’s past labour force participation. Women’s own educational achievement and the presence of children younger than 12 are the strongest determinants of their participation and work hours. Our findings add to the growing evidence that parental behaviours during childhood have long-reaching consequences for children’s behaviours, also in the realm of paid work. This provides a useful explanation for the persisting gender gap in work hours across Europe, in addition to the conventional explanations of education, occupational history and family formation.

U2 - 10.1093/esr/jcn030

DO - 10.1093/esr/jcn030

M3 - Article

VL - 24

SP - 435

EP - 449

JO - European Sociological Review

JF - European Sociological Review

SN - 0266-7215

IS - 4

ER -