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Objective: This paper explores the role of parental leave for gendered career patterns in individualized, competitive labor markets in Norway, a culturally and politically family-friendly and gender-equal society. Background: Despite family-friendly policies and little prejudice against mothers, there is a significant gap in wages and careers between mothers and fathers in Norway. This is particularly true in individualized, competitive parts of the labor market, such as finance banking. To understand this pattern, we must examine the institutionalized rules of the game in which portfolio workers, with individual responsibility for their portfolio of clients, operate. Method: Drawing on in-depth interviews with 30 women and men working in Norwegian business banking, we analyze accounts of parental leave practices and how these bankers navigate the market conditions. Results: The analyses show how the market structure for finance banking and portfolio careers limits family policies, changing parenthood norms, and firms’ goodwill. Fathers postpone, split, and adapt “leave” to fit clients’ needs, thus sustaining their portfolio and career progress. In contrast, mothers, who typically take longer actual leave, give up clients and start from scratch upon return. Conclusion: Gendered use of parental leave within competitive market conditions leads to gendered career and wage patterns. More individualized competition in the wider labor market may increase inequality in parenting and careers, despite favorable cultural norms and policies, as long as public authorities, firms, and families accept individualized logics and gender-unequal practices of parental leave. Key words: fatherhood, father’s quota, portfolio careers, work-family dynamics, interview study Parental leave vs. competition for clients: Motherhood penalty in competitive work environments

Despite increasing gender-equality in many areas, corporate power is still strongly male-dominated. Prevailing research often relies on the cognitive, demand-side mechanism of in-group favoritism based on single-country studies to produce generalized explanations of men’s dominance in top management and to recommend remedies, such as gender quotas on boards. However, existing research findings are mixed. We contribute to the research field by analyzing original data from 457 large companies in Norway and the US, examining associations of the gender-composition on boards and in the actual Executive Committees. The predictions of in-group favoritism are partly supported in the US, but largely not supported for Norwegian companies with gender-balanced boards due to quotas. We argue that in-group favoritism is an incomplete explanation. We call for research examining the organizational and societal processes curtailing the supply of qualified women for top-executive positions, across national and regulatory contexts and organizational levels.

Økt likestilling mellom mødre og fedre i familie- og yrkesliv, altså mindre grad av kjønnsspesialisering, var et uttalt mål for innføring av fedrekvoten. Forskning gir imidlertid ulike svar på hvorvidt fedrekvoten har bidratt til mer likestilling. Kvalitative studier og studier som ser på statistiske korrelasjoner, viser en klar sammenheng mellom fars permisjonsbruk og mors og fars tilpasning til arbeid og familie på sikt. Kvasi-eksperimentelle studier, som legger stor vekt på å utelukke seleksjon, finner derimot små og til dels motstridende kausale effekter av innføring av fedrekvoten på foreldres familie- og yrkesarbeid. I denne artikkelen diskuterer vi hvordan sprikende funn kan forstås. Selv om kvasi-eksperimentelle studier finner få effekter av fedrekvotereformen, kan vi ikke utelukke at økt despesialisering i barnets første leveår gir mer likestilling på sikt, ettersom disse studiene sjelden undersøker om tidlig despesialisering faktisk har skjedd. Tidlig despesialisering forutsetter ikke bare at far har rett til kvote, men også at kvoten brukes i tråd med hensikten. For å vurdere hvorvidt en fedrekvote kan bidra til mer likestilte foreldreskap, trenger vi mer kunnskap om hvordan permisjonen faktisk benyttes og hvor omfattende despesialisering som må til i barnets første leveår for å gi varige endringer i foreldres tilpasning til omsorg og yrkesarbeid.

In many countries – including Norway – concerns about the persistent gender gap in pensions have led to the introduction of child credits that compensate mothers for losing accrued pension rights while they care for small children. In political debates child credits are typically framed as being unequivocally women-friendly. But, although they help to reduce the gender gap in pension income, they tend to discourage mothers’ paid work and favour couples with a gendered division of paid and unpaid work. This article uses survey data to investigate the extent to which the working age population in Norway supports the idea that parents (mothers) of pre-school children with low earnings should be compensated by the pension system. We examine whether the pattern of support is consistently gendered or whether there are internal cleavages among men and women according to socio-economic status and work-family adaptation. We find that, although both genders express positive attitudes, women are on average more inclined to support child credits than men, but with strong internal divisions. While less-educated women in families with a traditional division of labour constitute the most supportive group, highly-educated women in gender-equal families are as sceptical towards child credits as their male peers. Surprisingly, among both genders, we find that younger cohorts are as supportive as older cohorts. A woman’s cause? Popular attitudes towards pension credits for childcare in Norway

The aim of this volume is to study the integration of work and family for mothers and fathers in the context of the three institutions of state, market and family. A plethora of research has addressed work–family reconciliation, but concern for how the logics of the three institutions work together and create contradictions and dilemmas has been less explicit. These logics have their distinct expressions and confront each other differently according to contexts and times. They may change at different speeds and follow trajectories of change other than the institutions themselves. The three institutions of working life, family and the state, and their underlying logics of economic competitiveness, morality and regulation, are examined both theoretically and empirically by the chapters, thereby contributing knowledge to the contemporary challenges within the field of work–family research.

Despite decades of focus on gender equality and work–family balance, parenthood still affects mothers’ and fathers’ careers differently. Drawing on in-depth interviews with Norwegian mothers who are relinquishing high-commitment careers of law and consultancy, this paper questions the adequacy of established explanations emphasizing constraints vs. individual preferences. Our sample of female professionals living in a well-developed welfare state is particularly apt to explore the processes and mechanisms upholding the statistically gendered pattern of women reducing their work commitment after childbirth.These doubly privileged mothers might be considered to have the best odds for combining career and work commitment with motherhood.Thus, we argue that the approach emphasizing practical constraints does not sufficiently account for the withdrawal from highcommitment careers among these female professionals. Nevertheless, we are not content with the claim of Preference Theory that this shift in commitment is merely a matter of ‘not-so-dedicated’ women discovering their ‘genuine’ preferences. Rather, in order to understand why and how this shift occurs, we explore the culturally constructed rationalities and schemas of both work and family devotions.We specifically examine the circumstances, mechanisms and steps in a seemingly individual process of making the shift in commitment from a promising career to a family-friendly job. Moreover, the analysis demonstrates how generous parental leave arrangements designed to enhance gender equality and work–family balance by simply reducing practical constraints may have limited – or even counterproductive – impact within high-commitment occupations where the ‘irreplaceability’ of workers is taken for granted. Our findings indicate that unless the culturally (re)produced discourses, demands and expectations of both work and family are exposed and challenged, even intentionally gender neutral work–family policies will continue to facilitate mothers’ career withdrawals, expressed as modified individual preferences.

This article aims at contributing to a better understanding of men's work–life reconciliation by developing a typology of work and care adaptations drawing on a sample of 102 European men, aged 21–64, working in different work organizations. The article combines qualitative and quantitative data. Multiple correspondence analysis is used to investigate the men's actual adaptations to work, care and self-realization. ‘Volume of work’ and ‘volume of care’ constitutes separate dimensions that render visible the traditional gendered opposition between a high amount of care combined with low amount of work and vice versa. However, two more untraditional adaptations (low–low and high–high) are identified. Additional analyses show that, even within this all male sample, the distribution of working life privileges corresponds with a high amount of paid work and a low amount of care responsibilities. The structure of the gendered division of labour, status and material privileges is correspondingly rediscovered. A typology of four different positions is derived: the ‘career' position', the care’ position the ‘care and career’ position and the ‘patchwork career’ position. These positions are further investigated utilizing in-depth interviews, discussing dilemmas and advantages of dilemmas and the advantages of each position. The article concludes that even if the number of available work–life adaptations open to men rise, this change will not necessarily contribute to alter the hierarchical distribution of career and care, privileges and costs in society.

Publisher's version (útgefin grein), The under-representation of women in executive management stands in contrast to their educational attainment, and labor market participation in most countries. This paper examines to what degree top-managers in the gender equal states, Iceland and Norway, agree with established demand–supply explanations of the problem, and suggested instruments for solutions. Drawing on a quantitative dataset of 908 managers in the 250 largest companies, the results emphasize that the divide between demand- and supply-side barriers and solutions may be less clear-cut in practice than theory. Our findings suggest a combination of demand- and supply-policies to enhance gender balance in top-executive management., This project was supported by the Icelandic Centre for Research (grant number 141630-51), the Norwegian Research Council (grant number 236770), and by CORE—Centre for Research on Gender Equality (grant number 10212).

A long research tradition has documented gender differences in career choices and outcomes in several professions, including the police. However, there is debate about whether such differences reflect initial preferences, socially constructed ideas about the incompatibility of family and working life or the objective constraints that men and women meet in their careers and family lives. This paper explores the initial preferences for career and promotion among male and female police students in Norway. Norwegian female police students are selected rigorously; they have chosen a traditionally male-dominated profession, and they live in a welfare society where the possibilities for combining work and family life are well developed. Under these circumstances, will the initial promotion aspirations of men and women differ? If so, will gender differences persist when family obligations and age are controlled for? These questions were explored using 2009 and 2010 data for first-year police students in Norway (N = 1,079). The results showed that male and female police students have remarkably similar aspirations for promotion, and this remained true when family obligations and age were controlled for. The results indicate that differences in initial preferences do not explain gender differences in career choices and outcomes.

Despite decades of focus on gender equality and work-family balance, parenthood still affects mothers' and fathers' careers differently. Drawing on in-depth interviews with Norwegian mothers who are relinquishing high-commitment careers of law and consultancy, this paper questions the adequacy of established explanations emphasizing constraints vs. individual preferences. Our sample of female professionals living in a well-developed welfare state is particularly apt to explore the processes and mechanisms upholding the statistically gendered pattern of women reducing their work commitment after childbirth. These doubly privileged mothers might be considered to have the best odds for combining career and work commitment with motherhood. Thus, we argue that the approach emphasizing practical constraints does not sufficiently account for the withdrawal from high-commitment careers among these female professionals. Nevertheless, we are not content with the claim of Preference Theory that this shift in commitment is merely a matter of 'not-so-dedicated' women discovering their 'genuine' preferences. Rather, in order to understand why and how this shift occurs, we explore the culturally constructed rationalities and schemas of both work and family devotions. We specifically examine the circumstances, mechanisms and steps in a seemingly individual process of making the shift in commitment from a promising career to a family-friendly job. Moreover, the analysis demonstrates how generous parental leave arrangements designed to enhance gender equality and work-family balance by simply reducing practical constraints may have limited--or even counterproductive--impact within high-commitment occupations where the 'irreplaceability' of workers is taken for granted. Our findings indicate that unless the culturally (re)produced discourses, demands and expectations of both work and family are exposed and challenged, even intentionally gender neutral work-family policies will continue to facilitate mothers' career withdrawals, expressed as modified individual preferences.

Juristprofesjonen løftes frem som et eksempel på vellykket integrering av kvinner i en tidligere mannsdominert profesjon. Imidlertid viser undersøkelsen om kjønn, karriere og omsorgsansvar i høyutdanningsgrupper klare forskjeller mellom mannlige og kvinnelige jurister både når det gjelder fordeling på stillingsnivå, innflytelse, lønn og sektor - til tross for lik utdanning og sammenfallende preferanser for karriere, lederstillinger og lønn: Menn jobber langt oftere på høyere stillingsnivå, oftere i privat sektor og tjener mer enn kvinner - og de opplever høyere karriererealisering enn det kvinnelige jurister gjør. Studien viser imidlertid ingen signifikante kjønnsforskjeller i stillingsnivå, lønn og sektor blant barnløse jurister. Det er blant juristmødre og juristfedre at forskjellen kommer til uttrykk. Cirka 70 prosent av juristene i undersøkelsen har barn. Barn påvirker imidlertid ikke karrierepreferansene; juristmødre er like interessert i å gjøre karriere og ha en jobb med innflytelse som juristfedre. I tillegg til å være opptatt av karriere er de også langt mer opptatt av å ha en jobb som er mulig å kombinere med omsorgsansvar på hjemmebane, noe som med stor sannsynlighet reflekterer forskjellen i hjemmesituasjon blant juristmødre og juristfedre. De aller fleste jurister gir tilslutning til at det beste for en familie med barn under skolealder er at begge foreldre arbeider like mye og deler på ansvaret for hus og hjem. Likevel er den reelle arbeidsdelingen svært kjønnsskjev til tross for at både mannlige og kvinnelige jurister har høyt utdannede partnere. Mannlige jurister med barn har i langt større grad ”bakkemannskap” hjemme enn det kvinnelige jurister har. Jurister kombinerer jobb og barn. Imidlertid viser studien at den skjeve fordelingen av omsorgsansvaret blant mødre og fedre ser ut til å påvirkes av og opprettholde et kjønnet karrieremønster innad i juristprofesjonen. Kvinnelige jurister med barn jobber typisk i stillinger i offentlig sektor på lavt stillingsnivå med få krav til overtid, tilgjenglighet, fleksibilitet, reising og høyt arbeidspress. Dette er stillinger som lar seg kombinere med å ha hovedansvar for barn og familie. Den typiske tilpasningen blant kvinnelige jurister med barn har imidlertid en pris i form av lavere lønn, redusert karriererealisering og reduserte muligheter for innflytelse i jobben.