Understanding the Interdependence Between Parallel Careers

Abstract

“Scientific inquiry is concerned not only with discovering quantitative relations between variables, but also with interpreting these relations in terms of underlying causal mechanisms that produced them. Without a knowledge of these mechanisms, we cannot predict how variables will co-vary when the structure of the system under study is altered, either experimentally or by changes in the world around us.” (Simon, 1979, p. 79). Increasingly, demographers emphasize the need to identify the underlying or intervening mechanisms linking demographic variables and suggest ways to accomplish the difficult task (Burch, 1980, p. 2; Caldwell and Hill, 1988, p. 1; Birg, 1988). The search for causal mechanisms is part of an attempt to develop a substantive theory of demographic behaviour. This paper is written in the same spirit. The aim is to explore the nature of the interdependencies between parallel careers. The fertility and labour force participation careers of women serve as an example. For no other set of two careers, the interdependence is as pronounced as for the fertility and employment careers. The basis for the interdependence is generally conflict or incompatibility, because “the timing of critical career-building phases does not accommodate women’s biological life cycle” (Regan and Roland, 1985, p. 986).