Women’s working preferences in the Netherlands, Germany and the UK

This paper focuses on the effect of women’s individual working preferences on female employment patterns in the Netherlands, Germany and the UK for the period 1992-2002. Female patterns of labour market participation vary not only within these countries but between them as well. Is this variation due to individual socio-economic differences, or could it be attributable to a variation in women’s individual working preferences? With the use of longitudinal panel data, this paper outlines the significant individual differences among women in paid work, considering the explanatory effect of individual preferences. The results show that individual working preferences are not the determining factor for explaining the variation in women’s average weekly working hours. More importantly, preferences show themselves to be context driven, dependent upon individual and household level constraints. Finally, cross-country variation is evident.