Applied CRDA - examples of analysis

The Netherlands and England have the highest rates of female part-time employment in Europe. This was often referred to by the participants of my study in order to identify a situation that amounted to ‘the best of both worlds’ (i.c. the optimal possible combination of employment and motherhood) and which helped them to establish a balance between the moral demands of being a ‘good mother’ and somebody who has ‘their own life’ and ‘identity’. Non-discursive aspects - relating to how Dutch and English society arc organised when it comes to their facilities for parents, income/cconomic class, and the quality of day-care - also appeared to play a ‘scaffolding’ or generative role in their reasoning.

The quality of English day-care has traditionally been low. Between 1997 and 2010, however, the then Labour government sought to improve this situation by making funding available to improve the qualifications of the workforce. The quality of ‘early years’ settings has, however, continued to vary

• (Nutbrown 2012). Dutch day-carc is similarly of variable quality, with some research suggesting that its quality has deteriorated over the years (Helmerhorst ct al. 2015). Below is an excerpt from an interview with an English participant who is currently a full-time mother and cites quality issues in the day-care provided as a factor in her considerations. The specific institution to which she refers was rated as ‘unsatisfactory’ by the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted) and had mistakenly placed her two-year-old son in the three to four year-old group, resulting in an experience of disempowerment and a lack of trust in the day-care provided:
  • 1. w: What are you doing at the moment?
  • 2. p: ,h I am at hfome (1.0) I gave up work eventually,
  • 3. p: and decided to stay at home with them (1.0) >1 think< after I tried nursery
  • 4. p: and it fai:led, that I jjust thought I’d rather be at home with them and
  • 5. p: know exa'I'ctly °sort of, you know⁰
  • 6. w: hm[m
  • 7. p: [I can guij.de them, or decide what I want them to be doling,
  • 8. p: What activities I want them to be doling

The participant clearly indicates that there is a connection between her decision to stay at home and the fact that day-carc did not work out for her and her children (lines 3, 4). The broader literature on this issue shows that, aside from general supply issues, the difficulty of finding suitable day-carc commonly features as a material constraint upon women’s opportunities to return to work (sec Nightingale and Cromby 1999); this was evident in both of the national samples. The fact that the participant’s decision to stay at home was not taken lightly is made clear by the emphasis on ‘evcntuallly’ in line 2. By referring to her experience of day-carc and linking it directly to her decision to stay at home this participant is aligning herself with the traditional caring role of mothers (sec also Phoenix and Woollctt 1991) - this is also made clear in the ‘three-way-list’ completer (using three arguments to strengthen a point, sec Antaki and Wcthcrcll 1999) in lines 7 and 8: ‘I can guij.de them’, ‘decide what I want them to be doj.ing’, and ‘[w]hat activities I want them to be doj.ing’. The fact that, as a mother, she considers herself to be fully responsible for the development of her children is made apparent by the focus on ‘exaf ctly ’ which precedes the three-way-list completer in line 5. Here the participant makes an appeal to common knowledge, evident from the softly uttered ‘“sort of, you know⁰’ in line 5 (sec also Billig 2001). Importantly, this appeal also ties in with attachment thcory/psychology, especially its aforementioned emphasis on the crucial importance of early child-mother relationships.³

The choice of whether to return to work or not is further informed by the financial situation of the family. In England, compared to the Netherlands, mothers take more time off from work after childbirth (Miani and Hoorcns 2014). Moreover, while part-time work is popular among women in both countries, in England this is often associated with lower-skilled jobs, whereas in the Netherlands there is a greater likelihood that both parents (regardless of job level and skill) will work part-time (Miani and Hoorens 2014). The participant in the extract below is Dutch and has a five months old daughter; she returned to work two months after the child was bom. She is married and the family are on a low to average income.

1. w: Vertel me over je werk

w: Tell me about your job

2. p: Nou, ik werk dus ook voor de financíele onajhankelijkheid, he

p: Well, I also work to be financially independent, you know

3. p: .hh dat je jezelf kunt onderhouden, dat vind ik be^langrijk

p: .hh being able to support oneself, I find that important

4. p: ook omdat het dan financieel wat makkelijker is

p: also because it means that it is a bit easier, financially

5. p: en ik ntijn eigen geld heb, ik hoefgeen verklaring

p: and I have my own money, which means I don’t have to explain

6. p: -inaudible- also ik iets koop

p: -inaudible- when I buy something

Despite several waves of feminism, women arc still perceived as being more responsible for their offspring than men. This means that women arc often left to justify why they are making certain decisions, such as carrying on with work. The participant in the extract above, for instance, draws on a financial discourse, referring to financial independence (emphasised through the word 'onajhankelijkheid' in line 2) in order to justify her decision to return to work. While this could be intended to show that she does not want to be a financial burden on her husband (line 3) or that she believes such financial dependence to be potentially harmful to her own well-being, it can also be understood in terms of an effort to portray herself as an independent, modem woman who can look after herself. Similarly, the link between female employment and monetary income can be evaluated both in light of feminist discourses about independence and equality and as a non-discursive scaffolding factor. As a discourse, ‘financial independence’ is used (in the case of this participant) to portray herself as a modem woman who docs not lean on or need others (sec Ilimmelwcit and Sigala 2003). More generally, this discourse allows women to justify their return to work without being frowned upon, at least to an extent. Yet, from a non-discursive viewpoint, women who refer to financial needs in order to justify their return to working life may simply be experiencing a situation in which their husband’s salary is insufficient to provide for the family.

Not only do women have to justify returning to work, however, once they do so they arc also paid less on average and they are less likely to be promoted (sec also Lebowith 2015). The participant in the extract below is self-employed and her husband is a computer technician; the couple have three children, two teenagers from the mother’s previous relationship and an 18-month-old. It follows a section of the interview in which the mother explained that, before she was self-employed, she commonly felt that she had to prove herself in front of her colleagues by showing that she could be both a good mother and a career woman.

• 1. p: ; >you won’t get the prof mojtion<, and you won’t get
• 2. p: the respect that other pfcoplc get. So a mfa:[n
• 3. w: [right
• 4. p: >a man might get in at seven in the morf ning<, and go
• 5. p: home at seven at nfight, but his work (1.0) may not be,
• 6. p: (1.0) as high a standard as yours
• 7. w: hmm
• 8. p: but befcausc he is always seen to be sitting in the oJTfiice,
• 9. p: (1.0) because he cfa:n
• 10. w: Yes
• 11. p: >bccausc he hasn’t got that< home life to worry af bout (2.0)
• 12. p: So, I think it’s a bit, of both, it’s from the work plaice, you
• 13. p: get the pressure ,hh and its from me:, b’causc (1.0) >1 want
• 14. p: to be able to do both<, and I want to be able to do them both as
• 15. p: well as each other
• 16. w: right
• 17. p: >which is why I wcnt< (1.0) that’s why I now work for myself
• 18. p: because I (1.0) if I want to not do anything to fdaiy, I can, >and (if?) I want
• 19. p: to be with G {child}<, then I make the decision for myself

As with the previous extract, this participant takes her position as an independent woman who knows her own mind as a starting point. This is apparent especially in her emphasis on T and ‘myself’ in lines 18, 19: ‘then I make the decision for myself). Yet, within these lines, she also constructs herself as responsible for her children. Here she argues from the point of view that gender inequalities (lines 1-9 - see the emphasis on ‘man’ in line 4 and the rising intonation in ‘because he cfa:n’ in line 9), together with her caring duties (‘home life’ in line 11), arc responsible for her decision to become self-employed (sec line 17: ‘that’s why I now work for myself’). Interestingly, while this mother talks in negative terms about gender inequality at work - for example by arguing that ‘>you won’t get the profmojtion<’ (line 1) - she appears to take her caring role for granted (‘>bccause he hasn’t got that< home life to worry afbout’, line 11); both arc said quickly (indicated by the ><), as if they arc simply a given. As such, she indicates that there arc two issues that play a fundamental role in women’s oppression. First, the unequal division of household and childcare tasks within the family (sec also Fahlcn 2016), which means that mothers have to be ‘super-women’ if they want to combine employment with family-life. Second, the notion that ‘you won’t get the respect that other pfcoplc get’ (lines 1,2). This suggests that gender inequalities arc also caused by a lack of respect for (and patience with) women who have to fulfil both their roles as employees and mothers (lines 12-15). The above should furthermore be seen in light of the fact that, in England, part-time work is often associated with lower skilled jobs and fewer opportunities for promotion (Miani and Hoorcns 2014).

Some participants referred to the lack of government support for women who want to stay at home - being a full-time mother is a privilege that is still reserved only for the few families whose male breadwinner cams an income that is sufficient to provide for all of its members. The next extract comes from an interview with an English mother; she is a full-time mother who has one child, an 18 months old girl. Her husband is a salesman.

• 1. p: you, you’re definitely a non-person if you
• 2. p: just started to (1.0) .hh to stay at hj.ome, I means °it’s it’s
• 3. p: like⁰ you have absolutely no .hh {clear throat} no help or,
• 4. p: or recognition from the government as it wj.crc
• 5. p: .hh >you know<, you get (1.0) >1 mean< you get your
• 6. p: chjild bene {.fit, which is next to no {.thing (1.0)
• 7. w: right
• 8. p: and you do have to: (1.0) you know, tell yourself that actually
• 9. p: you arc, you know, you, it’s just as valuable a job you
• 10. p: you’re doing, staying at home and looking after your bfaby

In England, more so than in the Netherlands, day-care is considered a private responsibility, and the quality of day-care provision has improved only minimally to date (sec also Osgood and Robinson 2017; Sims-Schouten and Riley 2014). In fact, family support and benefits have been cut in recent years to contribute to the Conservative government’s manifesto promise to reduce welfare spending by £12bn by the end of parliament. This factor functions as scaffolding, a generative mechanism, in this mother’s argument that you arc ‘definitely a non-person’ (line 1) when you stay at home; from line 4 (‘recognition from the government as it wjere’) it is clear that she holds the government responsible for this. Note, furthermore, that she strengthens this argument through the use of extreme case formulations (see Pomerantz 1986), ‘definitely’ (line 1) and ‘absolutely’ (line 3). She turns this external pressure from the government into internal pressure, linked to self-worth, in the latter part of the extract (‘tell yourself’ and ‘you’re doing, staying at home’, sec lines 8-10). In fact, she is making sense of her ‘stay-at-home status’ by constructing this in terms of doing a ‘valuable’ ‘job’ (line 9), suggesting that motherhood can only be on a par with employment if it is understood as ‘doing a job’.

Phase one of the three-part analysis showed that there exist significantly fewer mother and toddler and infant groups/placcs (which provide opportunities for both to socialise) in the Netherlands than in England. This was also evident from the interviews with Dutch mothers, who referred to social interaction as a benefit of being employed to a far greater extent than the English participants. The extract below provides an example of this. This section comes from an interview with a Dutch participant who has one child, a 15-month-old boy; this mother works part-time as a pharmacy assistant and her husband is a project manager.

• 1. w: kun je je belangrijkstc reden om kindcropvang te gebruiken samenvatten? w: could you summarise your most important reason for using day-care?
• 2. p: eh:m (1.0) h jfa, mijn allerbelangrijkstc reden is graag,

p: erm (1.0) well, my most important reason is really

3. p: dat ik wil wferken, °gewoon toch⁰ (1.0) °dic tijden die ik net zj.ei°

p: that I still want to work (1.0) those hours that I mentioned earlier on

4. w: Ja

w: Yes.

5. p: °jj.a dat vind ik gj.cwoon° (1.0) °ja, voor mczelfheel bctlangrijk⁰

p: yes I just find that (1.0) yes, very important for myself

6. p: Ik zie het gewoon niet zitten om ch,h Jfa dat zit gewoon

p: I just can't face to er Yeah that is just

7. p: in m’n karfakter, denk it

p: part of my character I think

8. w: ja.

w: yes

9. p: ik vind het gewoon heel erg leuk om eh

p: I just really like it very much to er

10. p: JA >om toch nog mct< J,andere mcn|sc:n, in contact tc koj.mcn

p: YES, to still he in contact with other people.

This participant refers to her own stake and interests when asked what the most important reason is for her choice to use day-care (line 1). As opposed to some of the other participants in the sample, who focused mostly on benefits for the child (i.e. that day-carc is good for a child’s development), she refers to the benefits for herself (sec line 5, with emphasis on ‘heel bclangrijk’ = very important). By referring to her character (‘part of my character I think’, line 7) she emphasises authenticity and accuracy, because nobody knows her better than she docs (sec also Speer and Potter 2000). Moreover, this statement works to show that the decision is, to an extent, beyond her control, not something that she can help; it is part of her ‘character’ rather than a specific choice that she has made. Himmclwcit and Sigala (2003, p. 7) call this the ‘constraint of identity’, referring to the fact that mothers’ identities inform how they construct the decisions they face so that they do not consider options that arc not in accordance with their identities. By constructing employment as a category-bound activity (sec Silverman 2001) of being in ‘contact with other people’ (line 9, 10 - the significance of this is highlighted by the loudly uttered ‘YES, to still be in contact with other people’) and

Critical Realist Discourse Analysis 291 socialising she suggests that being a full-time mother reduces her options in this regard.