Introduction

Women's labour market participation, marriage and fertility behaviour, and, generally, gender roles changed dramatically during the second half of the 20th century. Given their extent and their economic, social and also moral implications, such changes have dominated the academic and political debate and generated an enormous body of empirical and theoretical literature. Some theories focus on supply-side factors such as human capital resources and work–family orientations. Others analyse women's labour supply within the context of the household or of the social stratification system by looking at the effect of the partner's resources or women's class position. Yet others emphasise the institutional context that shapes women's and couple's choices by examining either specific policies or the overall welfare state or welfare regime. Other theories focus more closely on the labour market structure, opportunities and regulations. Further scholars point to the importance of culture, either at a macro level, by considering institutionalised gender and care norms, or overall gender roles and work attitudes in the society; or at a micro level, by looking at women's attitudes and at moral and social views negotiated with partners and within other social networks.

In this chapter I shall review these various theories, my aims being to identify the different potential micro and macro determinants of women's employment patterns, and to propose an integrated approach that considers the interplay among supply-side, demand-side, cultural, material and institutional factors. The extent and type of change across cohorts in women's work histories in the two countries studied will thus depend on the concrete characteristics of all these different ‘explanans’, on their relations, and on which of them have changed over time and how.

The effects of education, wages and class

Human capital theory acts as a sort of benchmark in the study of women's labour market outcomes. It derives from the standard economic approach of rational choice and, like any ‘standard’, it has been used to explain many different phenomena. The theory has been widely discussed within economics, but also within sociology and politics where its influence has spread. This longstanding debate has produced several pro and contra arguments, several empirical tests, and it has given rise to more liberal rational-choice versions or to alternative accounts that emphasise non-instrumental rationality, non-monetary returns to education, the importance of class and of the institutional and cultural embeddedness of choices and outcomes.