Paper short abstract:

This paper examines how “motherhood culture” is both sustained and contested in the contemporary Dutch society where working parents typically combine formal and informal care arrangements. The meaning of home as the ideal place for care largely determines women’s preference for part-time working．

Paper long abstract:

A male-breadwinner model, once widely endorsed and practiced by all classes in the Dutch society, has been replaced by "one-and-a-half model", in which both partners combine paid work and parenting, though women undertake a larger share in childcare and housework. In consequence, the Netherlands now exhibits both the highest rate of female employment and the highest incidence of part-time working among the EU member states. In their efforts of reconciling work and family, many parents combine formal and informal care arrangements, but the full-time use of childcare institutions is extremely rare. It is often stated that the number of days at day-care centre should not exceed the number of days that young children spend in home environment.

The result of my anthropological study including in-depth interviews with working parents and the analysis of survey data and policy document reveals the fact that "motherhood culture (moederschap cultuur)" is both sustained and contested in the contemporary care regime, which increasingly incorporates fathers and grandparents as well as professionals. Full-time housewives are now socially marginalized together with full-time working mothers; married women typically opt for working part-time to gain "the best of both worlds". I will further examine the cultural rationale of this current norm and explicate the ways in which the meaning of domestic domain has evolved in the face of the changing nature of child-rearing. The future directions of Dutch women's work style are likely to be determined by the persistence or transformation of the ideals surrounding the place for care.