Kids over career
Dutch mothers seem to be out of step with other mums in the western world: there are plenty of day-care facilities available in the Netherlands, yet many well-trained and highly educated women opt for a part-time job. They tend to prefer putting their careers on hold while the children are young.
“For me, it’s very important to see them grow up. That’s not possible when they’re in day care.” Willemien de Haan is mother of four and has chosen her work pattern very carefully. She’s a nurse on a palliative ward for 16 hours a week and works only evening shifts and the occasional weekend. When she’s working, her husband - who’s a nurse as well but has a full-time job - takes over the child minding.
“Childcare in the Netherlands is good enough but they have a lot of children there, and they are professionals, so they can’t give the love to my children that I can give,” says Willemien.
Juggling
The way Willemien juggles care and work is exemplary of the way the majority of Dutch mothers deal with the issue. A recent publication on Mothers, day care and work by the Netherlands Social and Cultural Planning Office reports that, on average, Dutch mums work 20 hours a week and that many parents feel a maximum of two days of care a week for the children is quite enough.
Trudie Knijn, Professor of Social Science at Utrecht University, has been studying why Dutch mothers choose to be out of step with many women in European countries who often combine a full time job with family life.
“In the 1980s, when Dutch women wanted to enter the labour market, there were no child care facilities; it wasn’t proper for women to work when they had small children, and there was an economic recession. So at that time the social partners [government, unions, and employers’ organisations work closely together in the Dutch political consensus model] agreed to freeze the wages but in return the unions demanded that part-time work would be properly regulated. And what women did: they took up part-time jobs, and now 20 years later, this combination of work and family life has become the way to do it.”
Relaxed motherhood
“My life, as it is at the moment, is working for me. I’m a relaxed mum,” says Willemien, who admits she loves her work as a nurse but wouldn’t want to miss a second of her children growing up.
“In the short term, it’s the best of both worlds,” agrees Professor Knijn. But she also sees some potential problems, both for the women themselves and for the country.
“If anything happens, a divorce or something, mothers have a huge disadvantage over full-time working people. And in the coming years the country simply needs more women on the labour market.”
For the moment, though, Dutch mothers just don’t bother working more hours because they’re happy with their part-time jobs, there’s no financial need as their partners usually work full-time, and they feel childcare facilities are a second-best option.
Trudie Knijn is not surprised:
“Childcare in the Netherlands is not portrayed as something positive for children, as is the case in Scandinavian countries. Here it’s simply seen as a solution for mothers who want to work. So what we need is a government that envisions childcare as a positive thing. They should invest in good personnel and high quality standards, so that day care becomes a great thing for children - the first step towards a good education for our youth.”
By Liesbeth de Bakker
