Negotiating care and career within institutional constraints - work insecurity and gendered ideals of parenthood in Finland
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2172234 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Johanna Närvi (0000-0003-3082-5962, National Institute for Health and Welfare) |
| Year | 2012 |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 451-470 |
| Publication date | 2012-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Community Work & Family (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1366-8803 • E-ISSN: 1469-3615 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/13668803.2012.724827 |
| OpenAlex | W2008214324 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 11 |
| References cited | 13 |
Parenthood still bears gendered consequences for the lives of women and men. Individualisation theories explain the different employment and care patterns as resulting from free choices concerning individual lifestyle preferences, while institutional approaches underline the significance of structural or cultural context in creating constraints or possibilities in individuals' lives. In this article, mothers' and fathers' choices concerning care and career are examined in the Finnish context of gender equal family policy and employment flexibility. Two kinds of flexibility are analysed: part-time work, which is rare even for mothers; and temporary work, the use of which is strongly gendered and concerns especially highly educated young women. Analysing 29 qualitative semistructured interviews of Finnish parents, the study shows how mothers' and fathers' diverse preferences are negotiated into choices between structural frames created by labour market instability and cultural conceptions about the division of labour between parents. These choices are negotiated not only with oneself but also in relation to the other parent's preferences and situations. The employment situations and cultural understandings of parenthood intertwine in diverse ways in the parents' arrangements concerning employment and care, in which the spouses' relative positions in the labour market prove to be significant
Care work · Context (archaeology · Division of labour · Economics · Flexibility (engineering · Negotiation · Political science · Precarious work · Social science · Sociology · Work (physics · Employment and Welfare Studies · Psychology · Social Policy and Reform Studies · Work-Family Balance Challenges · Gender Studies · Social Psychology
“I feel many contradictory emotions”
Fathering and Flexible Working Arrangements
Young women’s contradictory expectations and their perceived capabilities for future work-family reconciliation in Finland
Care practices in Finnish families with young children
How long is a parental leave and for whom? An analysis of methodological and policy dimensions of leave length and division in Sweden
Paid Parental Leave in Correlation with Changing Gender Role Attitudes
Both Parents Working
Confident, cautiously confident or concerned? Working life profiles, capabilities, and expectations for work-family reconciliation among young Finnish women
Finding middle ground
Childcare and work - exploring the views of Finnish mothers and fathers
On shifting ground
Modernity and self-identity
Preferences or institutions? Work—family life opportunities in seven European countries
Gender Equality Revisited – Changes in Nordic Childcare Policies in the 2000s
Explaining Women's Employment Patterns
Gender and work orientations in conditions of job insecurity
Preferences, constraints or schemas of devotion? Exploring Norwegian mothers' withdrawals from high-commitment careers1
Personal Narratives, Relational Selves
Preference or constraint? Part-time workers' transitions in Denmark, France and the United Kingdom
Motherhood, Paid Work and Partnering
Lifestyle Preferences as Determinants of Women's Differentiated Labor Market Careers
The Experiments of Reduced Working Hours in Finland
Constraints and choices in mothers' employment careers
| Unique citing works | 11 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,22 |
| Citation span | 2017 - 2025 (9) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 11 |