To guarantee continued economic growth and pensions for the next generation, the Dutch need to encourage their women to work, and help them to stay there, reveals new research.
According to a report published recently by Dutch government research institute Social-Cultural Planning Bureau (SCP), two-thirds of Dutch mothers with children up the age of 12 have paid jobs, and work on average 19 hours per week.
Entitled ‘Mothers, Work and Childcare,’ the report polled 1870 households to follow a decision by the Dutch government to enhance the number of mothers holding paid jobs and encourage them to work more hours.
Increased participation in the labour force is thought to solidify women’s financial independence and emancipation, and thus enhance equality between men and women.
But another, perhaps politically even more important reason to induce women to enter the workforce in higher numbers and, once at work, to work more hours, is economic need.
Providing for the greying population
In order to guarantee continued economic growth and guarantee pensions for the next generation, the Dutch economy needs more female workers.
This demands a cultural revolution, as Dutch women traditionally work mostly part-time and leave the workforce temporarily when they have children.
The SCP’s current report confirmed these findings. Among the households researched, 40 per cent had children aged 0 to 3, 80 per cent had children in the ages of 4 to 12, with a 40 per cent overlap - that is, households having both age groups.
Mothers with school-aged children tend to work most, usually while their children are at school. They are followed by mothers of children up to the age of 3.
Mothers, who have children in both age groups, work in significantly fewer numbers than either of the two other categories.
While childcare in the Netherlands is relatively expensive, neither its cost nor its availability plays any significant role in a Dutch woman’s decision to work more or less.
Conforming to social norms and values
According to the research, women’s preferences for paid work are determined by social norms and values. As well as by the amount of remuneration. The higher the salary, the more women are inclined to remain in the workforce, or to continue to take a long workweek, despite their motherhood.
A total of 13 per cent of the mothers with children up to 3 years old do not use any form of childcare, dividing childcare duties between themselves and their partners.
Among those with children aged 4-12, some 36 per cent do not use any childcare.
The SCP also noted that if women have more children, they tend to work less. More than half of the women who have four or more children do not hold paid jobs.
Birth-rate dilemma
This notion poses a dilemma for Dutch politicians. Increased female participation in the workforce is required to maintain the current economic level.
However, long-term maintenance of the Dutch economy can only be guaranteed if the current birth-rate increases substantially.
With 1.7 children per woman, the Dutch birth rate is already too low to maintain the current level of the welfare state in one or two generations.
[Copyright Expatica and dpa]
