Becoming working mothers: Reconciling work and family at three particular workplaces in Norway, the UK, and Portugal

Abstract

This paper investigates how differences in national and organisational welfare policies and in cultural norms on national, organisational, and familial levels influence work–family reconciliation for mothers. Drawing on case study and interview data gathered through a large European study of parenthood and organisations, we compare experiences of transition to motherhood in three organisations in Norway, the UK, and Portugal. The specific question which is considered in this paper is how mothers manage the reconciliation of work and family in the period of time following parental leave. Our case analyses highlight the differences in organisational, national policy, and family support in the three contexts, and show that having a child is still conceptualised as a predominantly ‘private problem’ in the UK and Portugal, while it has come closer to having the status of a ‘public issue’ in Norway.

Este artículo investiga de que modo diferencias en las políticas de bienestar social a nivel nacional y organizacional, y en las normas culturales de cada país, organización o familia, influencian en el equilíbrio entre la vida familiar y la vida profesional de las madres trabajadoras. Basándose en estudios de caso y en entrevistas individuales a madres de niños pequeños, realizados en el ámbito de una amplia investigación europea sobre parentezco y organizaciones de trabajo, comparamos experiencias de la transición para maternidade en tres países: Noruega, Reino Unido y Portugal. El objeto específico considerado en este artículo, es el de saber de que modo las madres administran la articulación entre trabajo y familia en el período posterior a la licencia de maternidad. El análisis de nuestros casos evidencia diferencias organizacionales, en las políticas nacionales y en el apoyo familiar en estos tres contextos, y muestra que tener un hijo es entendido como un ‘problema privado’ en el Reino Unido y en Portugal, mientras que en Noruega el fenómeno se aproxima al estatuto de ‘cuestión pública’.

Keywords:

• gender
• work-family reconciliation
• family policy
• Maternity leave
• case study
• Norway
• the UK
• Portugal

Palabras clave:

• género
• conciliación trabajo–familia
• políticas familiares
• licencia de maternidad
• estudios de caso
• Noruega
• Reino Unido
• Portugal

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the contribution of all the research partners in the ‘Transitions’ project. See the project website for the complete list: http://www.workliferesearch.org/transitions/. Special thanks to the project coordinator Suzan Lewis; the coordinator of the Norwegian team Ann Nilsen; and the other members of the Portuguese team, Ines Pereira and Pedro Abrantes.

Notes

1. See Stratigaki (2004) for a critical analysis of the shifts in the meaning of ‘reconciliation’ in EU documents. She argues that the concept has lost its initial feminist potential and it now serves the more ‘neoliberal’ goal of legitimating more flexible work conditions rather than changing gender relations within the family. We use the term with its original focus on sharing of family responsibilities between men and women.

2. See, for example, Brannen and Nilsen (2005) for a critique of this excessive focus on choice.

3. An exception is the ‘cash-for-care’ reform, which was implemented in 1998. The policy implies that parents can choose a cash benefit instead of a day-care centre if they want to take care of their children themselves. The implementation of this policy was characterised as a ‘backlash’ by many feminist researchers, however, it had only modest effects on women's employment patterns (see Ellingsæter, 2003 for a comprehensive review).

4. Among parents with a two-year-old child, 41% were on the waiting list for a childcare place in 2004 (Ellingsæter, 2006).

5. The organisational data presented in this paper is based on national case study reports of the Transitions project: Guerreiro et al. (2004), Lewis and Smithson (2004), Nilsen et al. (2004).

6. Due to anonymity concerns, we do not state the exact sectors that these companies operate in. They are all private sector establishments that are run for profit.

7. We use pseudonyms that start with the letter ‘A’ for the Norwegian, with ‘B’ for the British, and with ‘C’ for the Portuguese interviewees.