Hard Labour – the Sociology of Parenthood

Citation

Patterson, L. (2005), "Hard Labour – the Sociology of Parenthood", Women in Management Review, Vol. 20 No. 8, pp. 610-612. https://doi.org/10.1108/wimr.2005.20.8.610.1

Thirty years ago, a favoured topic for a “snap debate” in my high school social studies class was “Should mothers work?” The gendered social relations of early 1970s meant this was a contentious “issue”: the economy was beginning to shrink, and the scent of “women's liberation” was in the air. It was a time when, for many women, paid work was but a brief interlude between school and motherhood, and something only the bravest of mothers did (preferably after their children had “grown‐up”). Times have changed. While our mothers “left work” to look after the baby‐boom generation, their granddaughters (the young women entering the work‐force today) are much more likely to combine motherhood with paid work, often returning to work when their children are infants.

“Hard Labour” reports on Caroline Gatrell's research with a very particular group of contemporary “working mothers” – degree‐educated women with at least one child aged under five. Based on qualitative interviews conducted in the UK between 1999 and 2001, Gatrell explores the experiences of 20 women (and their partners) combining parenthood and paid work. Despite the particularity of her sample, the mothers were an occupationally diverse group, employed across a range of managerial and professional roles spanning both the public and private sectors. Sixteen mothers worked part‐time (although for some this meant a 40‐hours week) and some had “flexible” hours. Eight were either the “principal” or “equal” earner in their households; nine “second income earners”; and three “incidental income earners” whose part‐time earnings were less than their in‐work costs.

Although designed as textbook, “Hard Labour” is an extremely readable and engaging exploration of the issues contemporary working parents face. The book follows a simple two‐part structure. Part I, entitled “The Sociology of Parenting and Paid Work” reviews the relevant research literature and is neatly divided into chapters with titles that entice the reader in their clarity. I particularly enjoyed the first chapter: “The impossible dream: motherhood and employment”. Here, Gatrell illustrates the changing landscape of women's working lives. She notes the general trend of the increasing participation of women (especially mothers of young children) in paid work. Then, citing national UK survey figures, Gatrell shows how degree‐educated mothers have been at the vanguard of this change. Irrespective of their educational status, only one‐fifth of mothers born in 1946 (i.e. aged in their late 50s today) returned to paid work within one year of giving birth. In contrast, of women born in 1958 (i.e. aged in their mid 40 today) nearly one‐third of mothers with no qualifications and over two‐thirds of degree‐qualified mothers returned to work within a year. Gatrell fleshes out these demographic trends with an informative overview of UK employment law and policy, and notes (rather depressingly) the hitherto uneven effectiveness of both law and employment policies in limiting discriminatory workplace practices that disadvantage working parents, especially mothers.

Part I offers a wide‐ranging review of some of the key research and ideas shaping understandings of working parenthood today. In addition to situating some broad changes in women's working lives, Gatrell also offers a brief summary of sociological approaches to understanding family life, noting important shifts in both approach and interest. Further chapters on the sociology of motherhood – one focuses on maternal transitions, another on women's participation in paid work and the effect of motherhood on women's careers – follow. A chapter on fatherhood is also included, exploring men's “traditional” role as provider, and contemporary shifts in the ways in which men as fathers form parental relationships with their children. In sum, Part 1 is an effective review of the body literature that informs Gatrell's key research interest: that is, understanding what working parents are “actually doing with their lives” (p. 95).

In Part II, Gatrell reports on her own research. By drawing on the literature reported in Part I, Gatrell organises her findings in chapters focusing on the transition to motherhood, the division of care‐work negotiated by new parents, the commitment of new parents to both their paid work and parenting, and workplace discrimination experienced by working parents, especially mothers. In each chapter, Gatrell links her findings with the literature introduced in Part I. I liked this approach. It enabled Gatrell to clearly point out continuities in the experiences of contemporary working mothers (and fathers), as well as highlight key changes that have occurred. Similarly, Gatrell was able to challenge some fairly firm assumptions (for example, that working mothers lack the motivation to pursue careers) with sound empirical evidence to the contrary. Gatrell's research sits within the context of rapid social change in family life and gender roles in modern societies. In the UK (and in similar societies such as Australia and New Zealand) it is often assumed that the “old” (mid‐twentieth century) norms of family households comprising a (male) “breadwinner” – (female) “caregiver” that once prescribed quite separate social roles for men and women have been well and truly eroded. Nevertheless, as Gatrell shows, “working motherhood” remains (to varying degrees) a contentious issue. Most interestingly, Gatrell found that both the mothers and the fathers she interviewed felt constrained by “traditional” attitudes towards them as “workers”. The “old” values and beliefs at the heart of the idealised male breadwinner – female caregiver model persist (both within the workplace and within the participants' social milieu) and shaped the experience of many of Gatrell's participants.

“Hard Labour” concludes with a well written chapter arguing that the care of children must become a more collective enterprise. Entrenched gendered social attitudes that perpetuate discriminatory workplace practices and reproduce traditional expectations around who should do what work under what circumstances make life hard for working parents. In her conclusion, Gatrell points out that many of her participants wanted very little in terms of practical assistance in combining paid and parenting work. What most wanted was a change in social attitudes. Many of the mothers wanted their employers, their colleagues, and in some cases, their friends and families, to understand that paid work is important to them. Similarly, some of their partners wanted their employers and colleagues to accept their new commitment to fatherhood. In what Gatrell describes as a “new finding”, many of the fathers she interviewed took responsibility for mediating their own relationships with their children including doing some of the “practical hard work” of caring for children (p. 216). Despite this, or perhaps as a result, both fathers and mothers experienced discrimination from employers and colleagues because of their status as parents and workers.

Despite claims of change in people's working and family lives, and legislation and workplace policies to ensure equal employment opportunities, the participants in Gatrell's research reported a range of experiences that reflected the persistence of fairly “traditional” gendered inequalities. While Gatrell's participants talked of the workplace as a site where traditional gendered norms dominated, some talked of “more equality” within their homes, particularly in regard to parent‐child relationships. This I found surprising, especially because national time‐use surveys continue to report little change in division of domestic labour in family households. Although interested in what working parents “actually do” Gatrell never really addresses the “problem” of how we (as researchers) access our participants' “experience”. What we say we do and what we actually do are mediated by social relations, and understanding “how things are” is no easy research task. Indeed, when people talk of their lives, they inevitable draw on the “how things ought to be” stories that make up the social world. Despite this methodological niggle, however, “Hard Labour” makes a significant and thoughtful contribution to our understanding the experience of working parents today. Even so, Gatrell's research findings left me feeling a little despondent. If middle‐class couples find combining paid work and parenting so challenging, what is the experience of other mothers and fathers? As a group, degree‐educated women and their partners are likely to have more resources and support that should result in a relatively comfortable negotiation of the combined worlds of work and home. It appears this is not the case.