Partner en kinderen: belemmerend of bevorderend voor beroepssucces? Beroepsmobiliteit van mannen en vrouwen met verschillende huwelijks- en ouderschapscarrières

Samenvatting

With its focus on the interrelationships of occupational mobility with the life domains of marriage and parenthood, this study brings a 'family perspective' to research on social inequality, and a 'socio-economic perspective' to research on the functions of marriage. Life history data (1903-1937 birth cohorts) from the 1992 NESTOR-survey 'Living arrangements and social networks of older adults' are used to examine the ways in which men and women's marriage history (never marrying, stable first marriage, early divorce or widowhood, early remarriage) and parenthood history (remaining childless within marriage) affect their occupational attainment (prestige of last job). The findings show clear gender differences. Among men, the level of entry into the labour market is the key to occupational success. Among women, this is only part of the story. Women's occupational success is not only strongly determined by their starting position on the labour market, but also by their marital and parenthood histories. The latter are inconsequential for men's occupational success. Never married women, single divorcees, and women in second marriages achieve relatively high positions in the labour force. Among married and formerly married women, those who remain childless achieve greater success than mothers. The findings suggest that the absence rather than the presence of family ties (partner and/or children) seems to foster women's occupational success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]; Copyright of Mens en Maatschappij is the property of Amsterdam University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)