Family time is highly valued in Finland, and is important for the wellbeing of all family members. At the same time, work participation provides an essential means to fulfil financial and psychosocial needs that are also important for wellbeing. How parents of small children are able to allocate their time between family and work is affected by childcare policies. What differentiates Finland from other countries in Europe is that parents can choose between municipal day care and subsidised parenta. home care (a child home care allowance) after the period of parental leave and until the child is three years old. Since prolonged home care periods are taken mainly by mothers and rarely by fathers, the Finnish system has been linked to neofamilialism. It has been criticised for operating against mothers’ interest by weakening their position at work and at home. On the other hand, reconciliation of motherhood with paid work might not be trouble-free either. In addition to the fact that increased demands from work may challenge successful reconciliation, a proportion of mothers are prevented from benefitting from this reconciliation due to unemployment. 

This thesis examines childcare at home, work participation and unemployment from the viewpoint of mothers. In addition to the quality of life of the mothers, indications of neofamilialism are also examined. The aspects investigated are divided into four articles. Included in the first article are attitudes and behaviour related to the choice of home instead of work participation; in the second article, the perceived negative consequences of childcare at home on an occupational career; and in the third article, the perceived negative consequences of work participation on family domain roles. Also included in the third article is life satisfaction among working mothers and those staying at home. The self-assessed consequences of unemployment on wellbeing and on family life are investigated in the fourth article. With the exception of unemployment, the focus is on a European comparison. Of special interest are the differences and similarities between Finland and the other two Nordic countries included (Denmark and Sweden), which belong to the same welfare regime type but provide weaker access to very long family leave for mothers. The data used in the first three articles is based on the second round of the European Social Survey (ESS), conducted during 2004 and 2005, and the data regarding unemployment comes from a survey conducted by the University of Turku in 2000. 

The Finnish mothers included in the investigation had stayed at home with their children for a relatively long time. In a cross-national comparison, their attitudes did not, however, appear familialistic. Mothers in only two – Sweden and Denmark – of the other 11 countries included here less commonly considered that a woman should be prepared to cut down on paid work for the sake of family. The results regarding unemployment further contradict the idea of (generalised) neofamilialism in Finnish society. Although changes in wellbeing are shown to be in general more negative among men than women, the family situation was not decisive for the experienced effect of unemployment on the wellbeing of an unemployed person. Changes associated with unemployment were not purely negative. In particular for the mother–child relationship, the effect was often assessed as positive. Finnish mothers did not report much detrimental effects related to childcare at home. Any negative consequences for an occupational career were perceived less commonly than in the other countries, and those mothers who took care of their children at home were satisfied with their life. Working mothers in Finland were also satisfied with their life, although out of these, the least satisfied were those whose work interfered with family roles. Negative perceptions regarding work in relation to family members were reported more often by Finnish mothers than by mothers in the other countries. Almost three quarters of Finnish mothers felt that their work prevented them from spending the time they would like with their family members, and more than half considered that their family members were fed up with the pressures of their work. Based on the results obtained, both these problems could be decreased by reducing time pressure at work. Almost half of the Finnish mothers reported frequent time pressure. Time pressure was not, however, more common among Finnish mothers than among all the mothers on average. Working hours were among the longest, and long working hours increased interference from work on family life. 

As well as mothers, fathers in Finland also reported a lack of family time. Increasing parents’ involvement in paid work, either through longer working times or shorter childcare leave for mothers, cannot generally be recommended. Rather than restricting the choice of the mothers, the fathers’ choice could be widened by means such as making a more equal share of family leave days more readily available to them. Another means by which childcare policies could reduce the imbalance between the two life domains could be through further facilitating shorter working hours. The idea of increased choice should also be more widely adopted in working life. Even in times of increased job insecurity, employees should be encouraged to openly talk about the burdensome aspects of their work. Employers could possibly be somehow rewarded for adopting family-friendly practices. 

The findings further suggest that among the unemployed, single mothers in particular would benefit from financial support. Yet, in addition to financial strain, high non-financial work motivation, which did not depend on family situation, also explained changes in wellbeing. To reduce the detrimental effects of unemployment and to increase the genuine choice for the mothers (or both parents), it would be of primary importance to take adequate action to secure the supply of jobs. 

Lastly, despite the different routes regarding longer-term childcare leave, more similarities were revealed between Finland and the other two Nordic countries compared with Finland and the other European countries. Therefore, the idea that longer-term childcare leave differentiates Finland from the other two Nordic countries is not overall supported by the findings of this thesis.