SRRD_2018_06.pdf (967.35 kB)
Women’s career mobility and childbearing in Sweden. Evidence of a tradeoff?
Childbearing has long been
considered inimical to women’s careers, and occupational mobility may
particularly reflect this dynamic. Swedish register data is used to explore how
women’s occupational mobility is linked to first, second and third birth
transitions to observe the importance of career developments at different
stages in the fertility career. This relationship may be weak in a context such
as Sweden, where policies protect women’s income and position in the labor
market from heavy loss after childbirth as well as encourage fathers to share
parental leave. Upward mobility was most common before entering parenthood and
women delayed parenthood when they had been upwardly mobile. Career advancement
continued but occurred less frequently after entering parenthood and still
delayed or deterred second and third births. The negative relationship between
career advancement and fertility behavior may be interpreted as evidence of a
tradeoff women make in Sweden, even when policies support facilitation of work
and family as well as both partners being earners and carers. Results also
indicate that second and third birth transitions were related to mobility
experiences relative to occupational statuses at the time of the previous birth
instead of relative to early jobs in women’s careers. This pattern implies that
the class at which women enter the labor market in Sweden is not an important
indicator of the joint determination involved in future career and childbearing
plans; moreover, instead of being a stable characteristics, fertility decisions
appear related to women’s success in managing career advancement each step of
the way.