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Work Orientation and Wives' Employment Careers

An Evaluation of Hakim's Preference Theory

University of Oxford, man-yee.kan{at}sociology.ox.ac.uk

This article uses work-life history data from the British Household Panel Survey (1991-2001) to examine married/cohabiting women's work histories and their gender-role attitudes. Findings suggest that women's employment careers are affected by both preferences and constraints. The presence of dependent children poses less of a barrier to full-time work for women with work-centered attitudes than other women. Nevertheless, women having a continuous employment career tend to be childless. Finally, there is a reciprocal relationship between gender-role attitudes and women's labor market participation, suggesting that preferences are changeable according to labor market experience.

Key Words: employment • gender-role attitudes • preference theory • work orientation

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