I work as a researcher at the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI) and as associate professor in sociology (Docent) at the Swedish Institute for Social Research (SOFI) at Stockholm University I study the work and family life of parents in queer and adoptive families (PI of project funded by Riksbankens Jubileumsfonds) and life course trajectories of male and female same-sex couples in Finland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands (funded by a VENI grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO) .
Mothers typically face earnings losses after having children, also known as the child penalty. However, research has shown that female same-sex couples experience smaller child penalties. Female same-sex couples have a unique advantage when it comes to the child penalty: they can split it by taking turns being the birth mother. But is that the reason for their lower penalty?
Uit ons onderzoek, uitgevoerd samen met Daniël van Wijk en Aart Liefbroer, blijkt dat jonge mannen en vrouwen (15-29 jaar) sterker verschillen in hun opvattingen over gelijkheid in publieke genderrollen dan oudere mannen en vrouwen (30+). Zo zien jonge mannen minder voordelen van een gelijke genderverdeling in politieke en economische topfuncties dan jonge vrouwen, en zijn zij minder vaak voorstander van wetgeving die het aantal parlementaire zetels gelijk verdeelt tussen beide geslachten. Daarentegen zijn sekseverschillen in opvattingen over genderrollen in het gezinsleven kleiner en verschillen ze weinig tussen jongeren en ouderen. Vinden jonge mannen de groeiende rol van vrouwen in het publieke domein spannend, maar thuis wel prima?
Excited to share that two projects have received funding!The first has been funded by the Royal Swedish Acadamy of Sciences (KVA) (97,634 SEK, €8,500) to utilize register data for studying the work and family life of male couples and multiparent families. This project, in collaboration with Ylva Moberg, addresses topics that are both timely and significant, and I am very enthusiastic about exploring these important questions.The second is a project funded by the Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy (IFAU) (922,209 SEK, €80,000) to study parenthood and the gender gap in health and sick leave, led by Ylva as the principal investigator. I’m excited to be part of this project and explore important questions about health and family dynamics.Exciting times ahead - looking forward to sharing insights as we move forward!
Na de geboorte van een kind nemen vrouwen doorgaans het leeuwendeel van de zorg op zich, zelfs in Zweden, een land dat bekend staat om zijn gelijke taakverdeling. Dit draagt bij aan genderongelijkheid en heeft negatieve gevolgen voor de loopbanen van vrouwen. Samen met Ylva Moberg heb ik de oorzaken van deze ongelijke taakverdeling onderzocht, nu te lezen in de Demos.
Together with dr Laia Sánchez Guerrero and prof. dr. Pia Schober, we studied how adolescents adapt their gender attitudes to their friends, classmates and/or parents.
Do parents divide their parental leave more equally if the mother did not give birth? No! Ylva Moberg and I show a striking resemblance in how Swedish adoptive & biological parents divide the leave.
Kan speelgoed je studiekeuze kan beïnvloeden? In mijn optiek kan het kan een druppel zijn in een emmer van genderrolbevestigende gedragingen die kinderen meekrijgen, en die uiteindelijk hun studiekeuze beïnvloeden Meer weten? Lees het artikel "Spelend(er)wijs. De invloed van wetenschappelijk speelgoed" op de website van NEMO Kennislink. Interview door Judith Robbe.
Together with dr. Ylva Moberg I obtained a grant (Riksbankens Jubileumsfonds; 4,949,000.00 SEK/€481.912 ) to study the division of labour in contemporary families after parenthood
In school, girls in general outperform boys in math-related fields. But even when girls have a relatively higher ability in math, they more often choose other education trajectories. My study from puts a piece to the puzzle on why girls don’t seem to aim for the science and technology fields in their education and work careers.
I was interviewed by Kim van der Meulen for the magazine &C (the magazine Chantal Janzen) about the use(lessness) of gender reveal parties.
Absolute ability/achievement does not explain gender differences in educational tracks, but the role of comparative advantage (i.e., being better in one subject compared to another) might. I studied the influence of having a comparative advantage for educational track choices using longitudinal data collected among 1,352 individuals (age 15-16) in upper secondary education in the Netherlands. I found large gender differences in track choices. Compared to girls, boys are on average 15% more likely to enter the most male-typical track (with a focus on science) and 16% less likely to enter the most female-typical track (with a focus on languages). I additionally found that having a comparative advantage in one field over another is important for which track adolescents choose, but it does not explain why boys and girls choose different track choices at such a young age.
Together with my colleague Ylva Moberg, I was interviewed for the BBC about why same-sex couples divide their tasks more equal than different sex couples across a diverse range of countries.