Married Women's Employment over the Life Course: Attitudes in Cross- National Perspective

We analyze survey data from 23, largely industrialized countries onattitudes toward married women's employment atfour stages ofthefamily life course.Despite general consensus between countries, cluster andcorrespondence analyses show thatthe nations represent three distinct patterns of attitudes.There is only mixed support for the hypothesis thatpublic opinion conforms tostate welfare regime type.Instead, normative beliefs reflect both ageneral dimension ofstructural andcultural factors facilitating female labor force participation and a life course dimension specific to maternal employment.Men and women largely agree, but gender differences affect cluster membership fora fewcountries.Systematic analysis of a large number of countries helps to testthelimits ofcomparative typologies and toidentify anomalous cases for closer study.Women around the globe face similar problems reconciling paid work and domestic responsibilities (Boh, Sgritta & Sussman 1989; Frankel 1996; Moen 1992; Stockman, Bonney& Sheng 1995).Compared with other women, mothers of children,particularlyyoung children, are less likely to be employed.When they do work for pay, they are less likely to work full-time.Ideologies assigning primary child-care responsibility to women prevail in most cultures (Barry& Paxson 1971).In advanced industrial societies, the organization ofwork(e.g., fixed employment schedules) and its rewards (e.g., gender paygaps) poseobstacles and