transitions in the south waikato labour market: an ethnographic study

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ecause I’d just be home all the time you know and yeah it’s just I can’thandle not being at work. …I still manage to look after them and work aswell and I look at working as giving them something a little bit better youknow. The money that I get from my job is for them kind of thingFor those who worked in family businesses, the contributions of a spouse or partnercould be important to the viability and profitability of the enterprise. These womenoften felt that it was common-sense that they to be involved this way. As the womanquoted earlier noted, not only did being self-employed enable her husband to be moreinvolved in caring for the children, for her it was also a valuable in-road into paidwork.This re-entry into paid work was often difficult to achieve as women had to combinepaid and unpaid responsibilities. As the high level of part-time work indicates, jobswere usually premised on the needs of children. Occasionally, though, it was childrenwho had to adapt. Although she was able to arrange childcare, working in the eveningshad negative implications for this woman and her family.The kids hardly saw me. …they really wanted me more then, at home, thanI was doing. …[but] after a while they got used to it.Like others, it seemed that personal and financial motives drove this woman. Whilstthese could mean that work priorities sometimes outweighed others, in most cases,women did not describe such severe pressures and were able to search out work thatdid not affect their children and/or that fitted with their schedules and needs. As thiswoman did, they might also elect not to continue work that they though had anyadverse implications for their family.They’ve got long hours and their hours are changing all the time whichmeans that my kids are gonna be home one day and not home the next day.And it would be just too difficult trying to get to work and worrying aboutwhere the kids are and that … I just wouldn’t go back there at the moment.As she alludes to in her last sentence, the age of children was an important factor inconsiderations regarding paid work, with women waiting till their children were atschool or kindergarten before contemplating it.I wanted to do dayshift but only part-time so that I was still home for myson after kindy. …I was only away for a couple of hours so nothing that Ireally did affected the children. I wasn’t one for going back to work whilethe children were little.For this next woman, her part-time work had grown out of some voluntaryinvolvement with her children. She didn’t want the paid employment to affect this,however.It was part-time because it was only 20 hours a week and I wouldn’t wantto work any more hours then that because I help out at the school as well.Though they hadn’t reached the point of returning to work, in the following cases, thewomen indicated that any plans would be heavily influenced by their children’s ages.The first woman outlined the ideal hours she would like to work.During the day from like in the morning to say 3 or 4 o’clock in theevening so that while my kids are at school or kindy then I’m gone as welland we’re all home together at night.26
Probably when [my middle son] starts school, I look at putting [theyoungest] into some child care and get a part-time job.I will [go back to work] when she is five and probably on part-time.As they indicate, like most of those already working, any employment for thesewomen was likely to be on a part-time basis.The last of these women had intended to return to work quite quickly after the birth ofher child. She had taken maternity leave with this in mind. The realities of thesituation caused her to rethink this, however.I thought that I would kind of go back to [work] because I took maternityleave and then I realised that that was impossible. I thought I would have ababy and then go back because I was so naive.Whilst this turn around was for a range of reasons, what it signals, in part, is the heavydemands that balancing paid and unpaid responsibilities entail. As has been noted,having children at school and the like opened up those hours for paid work. For thosewhose children were not all at school yet, it was easier to work when others could carefor them. Usually this was their partners or spouses, though very occasionally olderchildren helped out with this. Whilst allowing the woman to work, this approach hadits downside in that it reduced the time that the family could spend together.There are problems. There isn’t anything serious its just that [my husband]wasn’t seeing me as much as he used to because I was working all the time.For another woman, it created some pluses but also a demanding schedule.Um well it was hard ‘cause I had to like come home, get enough sleep toget up with the kids in the morning, if I could … but I had a lot of timeduring the day, after I had sleep and all that, I had time during the day tospend with them. … My son spent most of his time at my mothers houseand my baby was with her dad while I was at workIn some instances, women were involved in family businesses which allowed them towork and look after the children.[My wife] would work with one of the little kids on her back and it was afamily thing. It worked because we were prepared to work.For a small group, extended family were the most likely source of childcare, with paidservices being used only very occasionally.(ii)Voluntary WorkJust on two-thirds of all the people profiled – with all but two households representedby at least one person from this group – reported some voluntary work across the tenyear period, and for many this may have involved more than one occasion, or anassociation with more than one organisation or activity. Twice the number of womenas men were involved in this type of work. Commitments were for between threemonths at the shortest, through to some that encompassed the whole study period. Thethree month instance was exceptional in that almost everyone spent at least a yearinvolved in whatever voluntary work they were doing, with the average at just over27
Page 1 and 2: TRANSITIONS IN THE SOUTH WAIKATOLAB
Page 3: AcknowledgementsThe material genera
Page 7 and 8: INTRODUCTION(i)Research Background
Page 9 and 10: The findings from this phase of the
Page 11 and 12: Transitions can occur in a range of
Page 13 and 14: Table 1: Factors considered in anal
Page 15 and 16: Twenty years ago, a 100 acre farm w
Page 17 and 18: Illustrating a more volatile patter
Page 19 and 20: The role of education and training
Page 21 and 22: Though she had previously worked in
Page 23 and 24: employment opportunities cannot be
Page 25 and 26: Thus, he got a contract milking pos
Page 27 and 28: It’s like living on the bones of
Page 29 and 30: Though not confined to those receiv
Page 31: Though his various roles fitted rea
Page 35 and 36: also gone on School camping trips a
Page 37 and 38: given his health. The voluntary pos
Page 39 and 40: (i)Self-employmentSelf-employment p
Page 41 and 42: employment, this group of self-empl
Page 43 and 44: This marketing proved difficult, co
Page 45 and 46: when interviewed. Of the others who
Page 47 and 48: children, was able to work three pa
Page 49 and 50: what he was doing. However, he conc
Page 51 and 52: appearing to have limited knowledge
Page 53 and 54: 6. RELOCATIONSThough it covers peop
Page 55 and 56: change schools it was a good time f
Page 57 and 58: CONCLUSIONIn contrast to those theo
Page 59 and 60: surveys conducted in them to gather
Page 61 and 62: Gallie, D., Gershuny, J. & Vogler,
Page 63: Whitwell, J. and Thompson, M. A. (e

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