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24/7 -talous kuormittaa perheitä ja lapsia

Who's Got the Power? : Young Children's Power and Agency in the Child-Parent Relationship

Children’s rights and their increasing voice in families have made relations between parents and children more democratic. Despite this, child-parent relationships have been claimed to be relationships between unequals from the perspective of power. Often, power is understood as top-down with parents as wielders of power over their children and children as recipients of parental demands. The generational ordering of relations between children and adults poses the challenge of how to conceptualize power in the child-parent relationship, and how methodologically to study power and children’s agency, in particular, from the viewpoint of young children. This study explored in what ways power an…

Mothers’ non-standard working and childcare-related challenges : A comparison between lone and coupled mothers

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to particularly focus on lone-mother families, comparing the childcare-related challenges experienced by working lone mothers and coupled mothers in three European countries in the context of a 24/7 economy and non-standard working hours (e.g. evening, night and weekend work). Design/methodology/approach – This study utilises survey data from Finnish, Dutch and British working mothers (n=1,106) collected as part of the “Families 24/7” research project. Multivariate regression analysis is used to analyse the associations between childcare-related challenges, maternal non-standard working, lone motherhood and country of residence. Findings – The results…

Conflicts in Family Relations, Children's Emotions and Agency

What kind of conflicts and tensions do children experience with other children and adults in the family? Content analysis of 32 thematic interviews with 10- to 13-year-old children revealed that while conflicts often concern daily actions, tasks and routines, they also relate to decision-making and fair treatment or to matters threatening the child's sense of emotional security. Parental conflicts and conflicts in child–parent relationships often arouse negative emotions that lead children to suppress their agency. However, conflicts, particularly those between siblings, may also open up possibilities for negotiation and agency.

Mihin tarvitaan henkilökohtaisen elämän sosiologiaa?

Sociology of personal life / Vanessa May (toim.). Hampshire : Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.

Nonstandard Work Hours and Single Versus Coupled Mothers’ Work-to-Family Conflict

Objective: To compare single and coupled mothers’ experiences of time-based work-to-family conflict (WFC) and work-to-family positive affective spillover (PAS) in the context of maternal nonstandard work hours.Background: Despite having become one of the central topics of work–family research, studies examining the relationship of maternal work schedules and family roles have mainly focused on North American samples or dual-earner families. Although qualitative studies have highlighted the problems faced by European single mothers in relation to the combination of nonstandard work hours and family life, there are no quantitative or cross-national comparative studies on the association.Metho…

Parental working time patterns and children's socioemotional wellbeing: Comparing working parents in Finland, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands

Abstract This cross-national study examined the connections between parental working time patterns (i.e., regular day work vs. nonstandard working hours) and children's socio-emotional wellbeing defined in terms of internalizing and externalizing problems and prosocial behavior. We also examined how the total number of hours worked, changes in work schedules, working overtime at short notice, and having an influence over one's work schedules were linked with children's wellbeing. Data were collected by a web survey from Finnish ( n  = 358), Dutch ( n  = 200) and British ( n  = 267) parents with children aged 3 to 12 years. The results showed, that in all three countries parents working nons…

‘Celebrating diverse motherhood’: physically disabled women’s counter-narratives to their stigmatised identity as mothers

This study examined how disabled women negotiated their stigmatised identity as mothers by presenting counter-narratives to the culturally dominant narrative of disabled motherhood. Eleven Finnish physically disabled mothers were interviewed. The data were analysed by focusing on these counter-narratives, their linguistic features and their functions in the interviews. The disabled mothers produced four types of counter-narratives about their motherhood experiences: (1) celebrating diverse motherhood through individual coping; (2) performing motherhood through collaborative caring; (3) boosting motherhood through praising one’s children; and (4) normalising (disabled women’s) motherhood thr…

Family time negotiations in the context of non-standard work schedules

Present-day parenting is centred round the question of time, especially in the case of working parents. This study analysed negotiations over time in families where one or both parents work non-standard schedules, that is, during evenings, nights and weekends. We asked what aspects of time are negotiable and with whom, and who in the family bears the ultimate responsibility for these negotiations. The analysis was based on interviews with 47 people conducted in 2013 in Finland. The findings indicated that time negotiations within the family concerned everyday routines and schedules, social life and the family‗s philosophy. Family life and schedules in the context of non-standard schedules w…

Problematic Woman-to-Woman Family Relations

Family research has mostly concentrated on relationships between parents and children or between women and men. On the other hand, feminist studies have explained problems within woman-to-woman relationships deriving from patriarchy. This article focuses on problematic adult woman-to-woman family relationships. More specifically, it discusses two women's ambivalent emotions narrated and experienced in their problematic female family relationships. The authors suggest that feminist studies should take into account culturally dominant narratives interlinking female subjectivity and responsibility over the private sphere. Ambivalence arises in situations where individuals encounter contradicto…

VauvaPolku : digitaalinen oppimispeli ensimmäistä lastaan odottaville vanhemmille

Positive parenting and parenting stress among working mothers in Finland, the UK and the Netherlands : Do working time patterns matter?

This study explored the effects of working time patterns on positive parenting and parenting stress, and the moderating effects of working hours, the unpredictability of work schedules, and autonomy over working time in a European context. This cross-national survey study compared Finnish (n = 337), Dutch (n = 283) and British (n = 317) mothers with children under the age of 13, using structural equation modeling with a multigroup procedure. We found a connection between working time patterns and positive parenting but the nature of the connection differed between countries. In all three countries, no relationship was found between working time pattern and parenting stress, while unpredict…

Flexibly Scheduled Early Childhood Education and Care: Finnish Mothers’ and Educators’ Perceptions on Young Children’s Experiences and Child-Responsive Practices

The study explores Finnish mothers' and educators' perceptions on young children's experiences and child-responsive practices related to flexibly-scheduled early childhood education and care (ECEC). Data were gathered by ethnography-based interviews with mothers and educators of oneto three-year-old children attending this form of ECEC and qualitatively analysed using the method of inductive content analysis. According to the interviewees, young children experienced a multitude of feelings related to flexibly-scheduled ECEC, ranging from the undesirable, such as strain, distress and confusion, to the desirable, such as comfort, satisfaction and understanding. The children's feelings were as…

Daily wellbeing in families with children: A harmonious and a disharmonious week

AbstractWhat makes daily life in families with young children harmonious, and are there better and worse times? Applying a daily approach, the present study examined one week in dual-earner families with young children, with special focus on families that reported either a harmonious or a disharmonious week in their family interaction. Quantitative and qualitative diary data were collected with mobile phones and with paper and pencil from 45 families. Fourteen families representing either disharmonious or harmonious interaction were chosen for a detailed analysis of good and difficult moments in the spousal and parent–child relationship. What most clearly distinguished these weeks was not t…

Representation of Children’s Views in Finnish Newspaper Media Across Three Decades

As the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) celebrates its thirtieth anniversary, it is relevant to explore how understandings of children’s rights have appeared during these three decades. As a key public actor in society, the media provides an interesting field in which to study the salience of children’s rights in societal and public discussions. Thus, in this article, we examine how children’s views are represented in «Helsingin Sanomat», the main national newspaper of Finland, in 1997, 2007, and 2017. This examination is based on articles 12 and 13 of the UNCRC, where it is stated that children have the right to express themselves in all matters affecting them. …

Confident, cautiously confident or concerned? Working life profiles, capabilities, and expectations for work-family reconciliation among young Finnish women

The uncertainties and growing social inequality young adults face in the labour market call for research on the link between young women’s expectations about working life and the real options they have in seeking to combine work with care. Drawing on Sen’s capabilities approach, this study contributes to filling this gap in the literature by examining how women in emerging adulthood in Finland foresee their future career and working life, and how these expectations are associated with socioeconomic and partnership characteristics and their expectations for work-family reconciliation. Survey data obtained from 527 young women aged 18–29 were analysed using latent profile analysis. Three dist…

‘My life has changed, but his life hasn’t’: Making sense of the gendering of parenthood during the transition to motherhood

A narrative approach to the study of the gendered nature of parenting acknowledges that different kinds of cultural narratives surround the couple relationship and parenting. This narrative study illustrates the process of the gendering of parenthood from the points of view of seven Finnish first-time mothers. The data were obtained from 28 in-depth longitudinal interviews. Two main narratives were found: a turbulent transformation and a smooth transformation narrative. The turbulent transformation narrative demonstrates how the transition to parenthood may lead to biographical disruption in first-time mothers’ lives. The contradictory cultural narratives of intensive mothering and shared …

Perheen perustamisen odotukset nuorten lapsettomien naisten elämänkulussa

Perheellistyminen on viivästynyt, ja aleneva syntyvyys koettelee yhteiskuntaamme. Nuorten suomalaisten naisten tulevaisuuden odotuksia koskeva haastatteluaineisto kertoo, että vanhemmaksi tulo nähdään osana elämänkulkua, mutta lapsen hankintaa myös epäröidään ja siitä luovutaan. Elämänkulun haasteet heijastuvat erityisesti työttömien, vähemmän koulutettujen naisten perheellistymisodotuksissa. Fertility has declined dramatically in Finland in recent years. This has been linked to the global economy, personal uncertainties in work and relationships, and the postponement of parenthood. However, little is known about how young women in emerging adulthood make their choices related to family for…

Overview of Childhood (Finland)

A Mobile Diary Method for Studying Children’s and Adolescents’ Emotions : A Pilot Study

Researching children’s and adolescents’ emotions from their own perspectives possesses special requirements for the data collection tools used. In this study, children’s and early adolescents’ emotions were investigated using a mobile diary method. The article describes and evaluates this data collection method and presents empirical results on fluctuation in the emotions of children and adolescents (n = 60, aged 7–14 years). The data, in the form of short text messages, were collected over one week. Every evening, children received seven questions on their emotions. Multilevel modeling was used to analyze the data. The results illustrate the potential of the mobile diary method with childr…

Infertility as a lonely struggle? : Coping stories of previously infertile women

In this narrative study, we explored the meaning infertile women attribute to social support in coping with their infertility-related challenges. Written accounts and episodic interviews with 26 previously infertile Finnish women were used as data. Two different coping story types emerged: coping alone and coping with support. In the coping alone type women neither sought nor received support. Their coping appeared as a lonely struggle. In the coping with stories, women turned to their spouses, peers, or professionals, but still emphasized that they would have needed more support. Based on our findings, we underline the need for individually tailored support. peerReviewed

Child–educator disagreements in Finnish early childhood education and care: young children’s possibilities for influence

This study explores young children’s possibilities for influence in situations of child–educator disagreement in Finnish early childhood education and care (ECEC). Data were gathered from observations conducted in four ECEC groups of under three year-olds. A total of 112 child–educator disagreements were analysed qualitatively using reflexive thematic analysis. Children’s influence was rather limited in most disagreements, as these involved the established institutional order as manifested in the rules and norms of daily activities and educators’ control over children’s bodies and material resources. However, disagreements over social rules and the ongoing social situation often allowed chi…

Displaying morally responsible motherhood : lone mothers accounting for work during non-standard hours

This study examined how lone mothers rationalise their work during non-standard hours (e.g., evenings and weekends), which they perceive as problematic in terms of child wellbeing, and thereby as violating the culturally shared moral order of ‘good’ motherhood. The data comprise interviews with 16 Finnish lone mothers, analysed as accounts, with a special focus on their linguistic features. The mothers displayed morally responsible motherhood through: (1) excusing work during non-standard hours as an external demand; (2) appealing to an inability to act according to good mothering ideals; (3) using adaptive strategies to protect child wellbeing; and (4) challenging the idea of risk. Our fin…

Good moments in parents' spousal relationships: A daily relational maintenance perspective

This study examined positively experienced spousal moments among couples with young children. The diary data were gathered from 95 women and 55 men in 95 Finnish families over a seven-day period using an open-ended question. Seven kinds of activities were identified in the descriptions of moments: doings, conversations, presence, positivity, physical intimacy, support, and conflict management. Doings related to shared tasks and favors as well as conversations concerning catching up and family issues were more often mentioned by women than by men. Notably, positive spousal moments also often included children who were described as a landscape for the spousal relationship, as participants in …

Young children in day and night care : negotiating and constructing belonging during daily arrivals

The paper aims at understanding the processes related to young children's belonging during daily arrivals at day and night care. Two aspects of a child's belonging are considered: membership and sense of belonging. Data were gathered by ethnographic observation of 8 children aged from 20 to 36 months in two Finnish day care centres offering day and night care. Arrival episodes taking place at different times of day were analysed qualitatively based on the children's actions and expressions. During these episodes, the children negotiated and constructed their belonging by interacting with adults, peers and material objects. These interactions took place within varying social and material sur…

From Intense to Leisurely Study Days : A Diary Study of Daily Wellbeing among Students in Higher Education

This mobile diary study examined day-to-day variability during one study week among university students and study-related associated factors promoting and impairing their well-being. Specifically, we explored (1) what factors university students consider as promoting and as impairing their daily wellbeing, (2) what types of daily study profiles for students can be identified based on study hours, study motivation, and academic stress, and (3) how the factors promoting and impairing students’ daily wellbeing are related to these daily study profiles. The study utilized one-week mobile diary data collected from 86 university students studying in a Finnish university (a total of 602 measuremen…

Näennäinen normi vai elettyä demokratiaa?

Lasten osallisuus on yksi tämän hetken ajankohtaisista keskusteluista suomalaisessa varhaiskasvatuksessa ja laajemminkin yhteiskunnassa. Tässä artikkelissa tarkastelemme lasten oikeuksiin ja osallisuuteen keskittyneeseen koulutuskokonaisuuteen osallistuneiden opiskelijoiden puhetapoja lasten osallisuudesta ja yhdenvertaisuudesta. Aineisto muodostuu opiskelijoiden yksilöhaastatteluista ja ryhmäkeskusteluista (n = 31). Kysymme, millaisia puhetapoja lasten osallisuudesta on tunnistettavissa opiskelijoiden haastattelu- ja ryhmäkeskustelupuheesta. Erotimme diskurssianalyysin avulla neljä puhetapaa: osallisuus normina, rajattu ja näennäinen osallisuus, eletty osallisuus ihanteena sekä pakeneva os…

Daily rhythms of young children in the 24/7 economy : A comparison of children in day care and day and night care

The study explored temporal variation in children’s moods and compared children in regular day care with those in day and night care in Finland. To examine variation in children’s experiences, a mobile diary was used. The participants comprised 32 young children and their parents and day care personnel. Adults evaluated children’s moods three times daily over 1 week. A clear weekday–weekend rhythm was found among children in day care, who displayed more negative moods, due to frequent hurried mornings. Children in day and night care had more irregular mood rhythms. Boys were evaluated as displaying more negative moods than girls. peerReviewed

An examination of nonresponse in a study on daily family life: I do not have time to participate, but I can tell you something about our life

The aim of this study was to look at the issue of nonresponse and self-selection bias in the context of a family study on daily family life. Data on the participating families and refusers were gathered as part of the wider Palette study in which questionnaires and diaries were used as data collection methods. On the basis of these data (N = 208 participating families and 119 refuser families), we profile the families left outside the study. The parents who declined to participate in the Palette study were asked to fill in a short refusal form, which included questions concerning their family background and reasons for refusal, and they were also asked to write freely about their everyday l…

Viisas yliopisto tarvitsee yhteisöllisyyttä

Like ships passing in the night? Nonstandard work schedules and spousal satisfaction in Finland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom

This study examined the associations of work schedules and spousal satisfaction among Finnish (n = 347), Dutch (n = 304) and British (n = 337) parents. In addition to comparing parents with nonstandard schedule with parents in regular day work, the study examined separately the roles played in spousal satisfaction of morning, evening, night and weekend work and other working time-related variables (working hours, changes in and influence over one’s work schedules and spouse’s work schedule). The three-country data were analyzed using structural equation modeling with a multigroup procedure in Mplus. Little evidence for negative associations of work schedules and related factors with spousal…

Forbidden option or planned decision? Physically disabled women’s narratives on the choice of motherhood

This narrative study explores personal narratives by disabled women on their choice to become a mother. Eleven Finnish physically disabled mothers were interviewed. The interview data were analysed using Greimas’ actant model. The women produced three types of narratives about their journeys to motherhood: compensation, forbidden option and planned choice. In these narratives, the disabled women struggled with the disabling, oversimplifying and suppressive cultural master narratives of ‘good’ motherhood. Through the narratives, the women distanced themselves from these dominant cultural narratives and constructed strong agency for themselves as mothers. peerReviewed

From being ignored to engaging in dialogue : Young boys' narratives of children's participation in child–parent conflicts

This paper examines children's opportunities to participate in everyday child–parent conflicts as revealed in young boys' fictional narratives. The data were collected from 19 boys aged 3–6 years using the Story Magician's Play Time method. Narrative analysis yielded four story types: ignored participation stories, parent-directed participation stories, child-directed participation stories and dialogical participation stories. The study illustrates that when considering children's participation in child–parent conflicts, differences between children in their opportunities to participate in resolving conflicts should be taken into account. The boys' stories draw attention to the importance o…

Mobile Diary Methods in Studying Daily Family Life

This chapter introduces a mobile diary data collection tool and discusses its use in the field of family research. Although the mobile diary method is a newcomer in the field of family research, its history is rooted in the larger context of the development of methods for investigating daily life. Mobile phones offer several advantages for studying daily family dynamics: user friendliness, cost-effectiveness, the ability to capture daily emotions, interactions and significant moments, and data reliability and validity. Mobile diaries utilize various mobile phone services, including SMSs and applications, and they are increasingly used also with children. The benefits of mobile diaries in fa…

Timing Motherhood: Experiencing and Narrating the Choice to Become a Mother

The decision to become a mother is a multilayered process that is not wholly rational, clear-cut, or conscious. The aim of this study is to present four different stories about the choice of becoming a mother collected from pregnant women living in heterosexual relationships. The women’s stories are explored through the desires and ambivalences of embodied, relational and emotional female subjects. Crucial to the choice of becoming a mother are: first, the timing of motherhood, which is attached to social and cultural narratives concerning ‘good’ mothering and a ‘reasonable’ female life course; second, the ambivalences encountered in choosing to become a mother; and, third, the link betwee…

The difficulty of being a professional, a parent, and a spouse on the same day : daily spillover of workplace interactions on parenting, and the role of spousal support

Designing parenting interventions and preventions requires knowledge on the factors and processes that shape parenting behaviors. Using data collected over 10 days, during the last hour of work and before going to bed, this study examined the spillover of interpersonal work stresses into positive and negative parenting behaviors. Data were collected among 103 couples who had at least one child between the age of one and eight years. Of particular interest was the role of received emotional spousal support as a moderator of stress spillover. Dyadic variants of multilevel models were used to analyze the data. The results showed that on days on which mothers or fathers reported stressful inter…

Lasten osallisuuden jännitteet varhaiskasvatuksessa

Lasten osallisuus on varhaiskasvatuksessa pedagogisen toiminnan keskeinen tavoite. Osallisuuden toteutuminen voi olla kuitenkin käytännössä vaikeaa. Sitä hankaloittavat lasten osallisuuden epäselvä teoreettinen määrittely, tiedon puute osallisuutta tukevista käytännöistä ja toimintatavoista sekä varhaiskasvatuksen resursoinnin kysymykset. Varhaiskasvatuksen lapsiryhmät ovat yhä monimuotoisempia, ja myös siksi on tärkeää kehittää kasvattajien osaamista lasten osallisuuden huomioon ottamisessa. Jotta lasten osallisuus ja oikeudet osataan tunnistaa, on tunnettava niihin liittyvää tutkimustietoa ja lainsäädäntöä sekä uusia toimintatapoja. Artikkelissa tarkastelemme, millaista oli Oiva – Lasten …

Narrating ambivalence of maternal responsibility

Early motherhood and caring for the infant involve a moral ambiguity that is related to the questions of responsibility and vulnerability. By means of the ethics of care, motherhood can be understood as belonging to the moral domain, as relational, and as linked with everyday social situations. The culturally dominant narratives of ‘good mothering’ easily naturalise and normatise maternal agency. This study illustrates the process of adopting responsibility for the infant and the moral ambivalence that is inscribed in early maternal care. The data consist of four interview sessions with each of seven first-time mothers conducted during pregnancy and the first post-natal year. The interview…

Digitaalinen oppimispeli VauvaPolku : Vanhemmuuteen valmistautumista pelillisen oppimisen keinoin

Tässä tutkimuksessa selvitettiin digitaalisen VauvaPolku-oppimispelin soveltuvuutta perhevalmennukseen sekä oppimispelin hyötyjä asiakkaiden ja työntekijöiden näkökulmista. Vanhemmuuteen valmentava oppimispeli kehitettiin Tieteen tiedotus ry:n rahoituksella ja tutkimuksen rahoitti Kunnallisalan kehittämissäätiö (1.10.2017–28.2.2019). Oppimispelin uutuusarvona oli soveltaa pelillistä oppimista koskeva tutkimustieto ja osaaminen vanhemmuuden ja perheen arjen tukemiseen. Uuden työvälineen tavoitteena oli hyödyttää vanhempien lisäksi myös ammattilaisia ja perhepalvelujen tuottajia. VauvaPolku-oppimispeli syntyi aikana, jolloin perhepalveluja oltiin kehittämässä aiempaa ennaltaehkäisevämpään suu…

Tukea vanhemmuuteen valmistautumiseen : kirjallisuuskatsaus perhevalmennusohjelmien sisällöistä ja työmuodoista

Tässä kirjallisuuskatsauksessa kartoitettiin kansainvälisten tutkimusten valossa perhevalmennusohjelmien sisältöjä ja työmuotoja sekä selvitettiin, mitkä tukemisen tavoista olivat edistäneet parhaiten vanhemmuuteen valmistautumista ja perheiden hyvinvointia. Katsaukseen valittiin 14 empiiristä artikkelia, jotka käsittelivät vanhemmaksi tulon siirtymävaiheessa toteutettuja vanhemmuuden vahvistamiseen tähtääviä interventioita. Vaikka perhevalmennusohjelmissa oli yhteisiä piirteitä, ne erosivat toisistaan siinä, pyrkivätkö ne vaikuttamaan vanhemmuuteen, vanhemman hyvinvointiin, vanhemmuuden jakamiseen vai parisuhteeseen. Ohjelmat sisälsivät kasvokkaisia, sähköisiä ja itseopiskeluun perustuvia …

Kumman vuoro? Kotityön ja vanhemmuuden jakamiselle annetut perustelut epätyypillisen työajan perheissä

Aiemman tutkimuksen mukaan epätyypillinen työaika haastaa sukupuolten työnjaolle annettuja perusteluja, koska näissä perheissä on usein tilanteita, jolloin toinen vanhemmista kantaa yksin vastuuta kodista ja lapsista toisen ollessa töissä. Tarkastelemme tässä tutkimuksessa, millaisia perusteluita suomalaiset, epätyypillistä työaikaa tekevät vanhemmat antavat kotityön ja vanhemmuuden jakamiselle perheessään. Hyödynsimme epätyypillistä työaikaa tekevien vanhempien haastatteluiden (n=34) analyysissa aiemmassa tutkimuksessa löydettyjä sukupuolten työnjaon seli- tysmalleja sekä kategoria-analyysia. Löysimme viisi työnjaon perhetyyppiä: Naishoivaajien perheissä äidit perustelivat sukupuolittunutt…

You have a Message from Illi! : The Mobile Diary in Researching Children’s Daily Experiences

Thus far, daily diary studies have mostly focused on adults and adolescents, while only a few have researched young children. In this methodological article, we introduce and evaluate a mobile diary application, “You have a message from Illi”, designed to capture young, under-school-age children’s daily experiences at home and in day care, in the context of a 24 h economy where parents work nonstandard hours and child care is arranged accordingly. We also compare childrens’ mood ratings reported by both the children themselves and adults. Children recruited either from day care centers (N = 15) or day and night and care centers (N = 17) carried smartphones with them for 1 week and reported …

Nonstandard Work Hours and Single Versus Coupled Mothers' Work-to-Family Conflict

Participatory research methods with young children : a systematic literature review

This systematic literature review aimed to ascertain what participatory methods for young children have been used in peer-reviewed empirical articles. A systematic literature search yielded 75 articles. Based on their methodology, the studies were divided into six categories: (1) multi-method and the Mosaic approach, (2) observation and ethnography, (3) language-based methods, (4) visual methods, (5) creative and playful methods, and (6) children as co-researchers. The participatory features of these methods were then analyzed. The articles foregrounded the importance of the reflective use of methods, ethically grounded research practices, and carefully considering young children’s particip…

Evening early childhood education and care: Reformulating the institutional culture

The article investigates the ongoing reformulation of the institutional culture of early childhood education and care (ECEC) in Finnish evening ECEC. Educators’ practices in implementing evening ECEC were explored and viewed through the lens of young children’s belonging. Data were collected by observing the evenings of eight children aged 20–36 months in two Finnish centers offering flexibly scheduled ECEC and analyzed using qualitative thematic analysis. Three main themes of educators’ practices were identified: (1) managing a unique and changing social group, (2) fostering homeliness, and (3) maintaining routines and institutional order. While these practices mostly contributed to child-…

Young women’s contradictory expectations and their perceived capabilities for future work-family reconciliation in Finland

This paper explores young women’s expectations on future work-family reconciliation in Finland, a Nordic country well-known for the promotion of gender equality. Utilising Sen’s capabilities approach, we content-analysed thirty individual interviews to identify differences in women’s expectations and their perceived capabilities in future work and care. The results showed that irrespective of their labour market status and educational attainment, the women’s expectations were contradictory, reflecting a current Finnish gender culture that embraces both the ideal of shared parenthood and the primacy of maternal care. Between-group differences were also found. The employed women perceived the…

Young women’s expectations on work-family reconciliation : Straddling both life domains

Presentation at The 9th Congress of the European Society on Family Relations (ESFR) 2018, 7.9.2018, University of Porto, Porto, Portugali In this presentation, I focus on the preliminary findings of my first PhD article. The aim of this study is to analyse the expectations young Finnish women have about work-family reconciliation and to find out whether their expectations and solutions to potential challenges of work-family reconciliation differ between women who differ in educational background and life situation. The data comprise individual and focus group interviews (N=30; N=3) with Finnish women aged 18-27 years. The narrative approach and time line method was applied in the individual…