The short or long end of the stick? Mothers’ social position and self‐employment status from a comparative perspective

Abstract

Women with dependent children have repeatedly been shown to be more likely to be self‐employed than other women. The mumpreneurship thesis explains this motherhood effect as a preference‐based strategy to meet both good worker and good mother norms. The disadvantaged worker thesis argues that mothers in weak labour market positions are pushed into self‐employment because of work–family conflict. Exploring patterns of motherhood effects across 23 high‐ and middle‐income countries, I argue that the mumpreneurship and disadvantaged worker theses should not be considered as conflicting hypotheses, but rather as addressing separate social position groups. I identify four clusters of countries where either one, both or neither of the two hypotheses can be confirmed. Country‐level analyses indicate that more negative attitudes towards housewives are associated with larger motherhood premiums for women in high social positions, whereas higher enrolment and smaller classes in pre‐primary education increase the motherhood premium for all groups.