Hannah Zagel (University of Edinburgh)
The labour market (in)activity of women in single motherhood situations is a prominent issue across European countries. In order to understand women's employment patterns it has been suggested to focus on timing in the life course rather than on women's categorisation as either workers or mothers (e.g. Lewis 2006). This paper argues that, additionally, the temporal and institutional embeddedness of single motherhood has to be considered. Drawing on theories of stratification in the life course, a conceptual model is suggested, which is based on the temporal dimensions of timing and duration of single motherhood. In order to explore the relationships, individual work-family life sequences of women with single motherhood experience in Britain and West Germany are compared. Sequence analysis is applied to longitudinal survey data from the German Socio-Economic Panel and the British Household Panel Survey. Data from the time period between 1992 and 2009 are used. The theoretical model implies that, while the particular family situation still distinctly influences women's work lives, this interrelation cannot be understood without considering the temporal framework in which it unfolds. It is argued that the timing of single motherhood as well as its duration are associated with the opportunities for women to acquire resources that can be used in the labour market. Furthermore, the meaning of timing and duration for activity patterns appears to differ between Germany and Britain. Hence, in the search for policy solutions to address the needs of women in a single motherhood situation it may be instructive to regard the interplay between temporal and institutional factors.