Motherhood 2.0: Slow Progress for Career Women and Motherhood within the ‘Finnish Dream’

Charlotta Niemistö, Jeff Hearn, Carolyn Kehn and Annamari Tuori
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Charlotta Niemistö: Hanken School of Economics, Finland
Jeff Hearn: Hanken School of Economics, Finland
Carolyn Kehn: Hanken School of Economics, Finland
Annamari Tuori: Hanken School of Economics, Finland

Work, Employment & Society, 2021, vol. 35, issue 4, 696-715

Abstract: This article investigates the gendered dynamics of motherhood and careers, as voiced by professionals in the knowledge-intensive business sector in Finland. It is informed by the CIAR method through 81 iterative, in-depth interviews with 23 women and 19 men. Among the women respondents with no children, one child, or two children, three dominant forms of discursive talk emerge: ‘It takes two to tango’, ‘It’s all about time management’ and ‘Good motherhood 2.0’. Though Finland provides a seemingly egalitarian Nordic welfare state context, with the ‘Finnish Dream’, women face contradictions between expectations of women as full-time ideal workers pursuing masculinist careers and continuing responsibilities at home, performing ‘good motherhood’. The women’s double strivings meet the double constraining demands of these ideals. The gendered pressures are imposed on the women by themselves, male colleagues, the organisation more broadly and society, leading the women to enact a form of ‘bounded individualism’.

Keywords: career; family; Finland; gender; knowledge professionals; motherhood; women (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:woemps:v:35:y:2021:i:4:p:696-715

DOI: 10.1177/0950017020987392

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