Should we all be feminists? Feminist Identification and Labour Market Histories of Baby Boomer Women in the Netherlands

Camilla Marabini , Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI)
Lin Rouvroye, Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute

Despite the substantial rise in female employment across most Western countries over the past century, gender inequalities in the labour market persist. Traditional gender roles continue to influence how work and family responsibilities are divided between partners. Feminist movements have long challenged these roles—particularly the Second Wave feminists of the 1960s and 1970s, who fought for greater opportunities for women to participate in paid employment. While the spread of feminist thought across societies has contributed to gender equality in the workforce, less is known about how adhering to feminist ideas has affected women’s individual career paths. This article therefore asks: To what degree does identification with feminism in youth improve women’s labour market position and participation? We use data from the first wave of the NIDI Pension Panel Survey, a retrospective survey collected in 2015 in the Netherlands. Our analytical sample includes 2431 working women aged 60-65. We find that around 30% of them identify as feminist. Overall, feminist women report having spent less years out of the labour force since first entry. Moreover, feminist women were more often promoted at least once throughout their career, and they worked more hours in the years before retirement. The results stay consistent after accounting for women’s education, number of children, and marital histories. These findings suggest that feminist identification early in life may foster greater labour market attachment and upward mobility among women, contributing to the reduction of gender inequalities over the life course.

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 Presented in Session 50. How Beliefs and Attitudes Shape Life Courses