Influences on Mothers' Employment When Children Have Disabilities

Abstract

Abstract Empirical research has highlighted the constraints on mothers' workforce participation when children have disabilities, but the policies and associated strategies needed to address these issues have received less attention. Greater attention to explanatory theory and associated research is needed. The authors' paper identifies major explanatory concepts in studies of women's workforce participation, and examines the extent to which these have been tested in studying the workforce participation of mothers of children with disabilities. They also identify constructs and empirical research findings from the latter body of research that have implications for theories of all women's workforce participation. The analysis demonstrates that there are many potentially relevant constructs from theories of women's workforce participation that have not been applied to studies of mothers of children with disabilities. Similarly, some findings about the influence of disability‐related factors on mothers' workforce participation have implications for operational constructs associated with theories of women's workforce participation. The authors' examination of theoretical frameworks and empirical research underscored the importance of exchange and cross‐fertilization of ideas between disability‐oriented research and that concerned with women's labor force participation.