Working Mothers; The influence of employment on motherhood

Using data from the ESS and the ILO a sample of 4908 women between age 25 and 47 is created. Logistic regression analysis has shown that unemployed females overall have the highest chance to be a mother. The direct relationship between self-employment and motherhood is not statically different for the wage-employed. Job autonomy and part-time work are positively related to motherhood. Since self-employed women have more job autonomy and are more often working part-time, self-employment has an indirect relation. Women living in countries with a high parental leave level, do not prefer working in wage-employment over self-employment differently than women living in countries with low parental leave levels. Whether a woman has a partner, a partner without an income or a partner with an income does not change the preference for combining motherhood with one type of employment relative to the other.