Women's work-life balance trajectories in the UK: reformulating choice and constraint in transitions through part-time work across the life-course

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper examines the apparently paradoxical notion that women ‘choose’ part-time work when it is consistently documented as being less preferential in employment terms, conditions and prospects when compared to full-time work. Forming a dialogue with Hakim's (2000) preference theory, it is proposed here that four dimensions—care networks; employment status; the UK welfare policy context; and work-life balance preferences—shape women's likelihood of making transitions to part-time work following maternity. Data presented here reveal that factors in the first three dimensions often override and undermine the carrying out of preferences in women's decision-making about reconciling work and family life. Furthermore, the intersections of these different dimensions result in women making ‘strategic’, ‘reactive’ or ‘compromised choice’ transitions, which have consequences for the maintenance of careers and labour market prospects. It is proposed that the different combinations of these three types of transitions form work-balance trajectories, which can more adequately capture diversity in women's attempts to reconcile work and family life.