About me

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)


The role of ability for gender differences in educational choices

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.

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Same-Sex Couples’ Division of Labor from a Cross-National Perspective

This paper studies how male and female same-sex couples across countries organize their paid and household labor. Using unique data compiled from multiple national surveys in 7 western countries (N = 723), we examined same-sex couples’ paid and household task allocation and evaluate descriptively how this is associated with countries’ gender egalitarianism. For paid labor, results indicate that female same-sex couples spend less time in total on paid employment than male same-sex couples, but both male and female same-sex couples divide their hours of paid employment equally. For household labor, we find that female couples divide their household tasks more equally than male couples. Moreover, more gender egalitarian countries appear to be correlated to increasing differences between male and female same-sex couples’ total time spent on the labor market and to decreasing differences in how equal they divide their household labor. These findings suggest that larger, society-wide, gender regimes might be an important avenue for future research when studying same-sex couples paid and unpaid labor.

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Do girls steer clear of a scientific career?

Based on their abilities, more girls could choose careers in science. But they don't, even though failing to do so means missing out on lucrative and prestigious careers with a high level of job security. So why do these talented girls still not go for those study programmes and what can we do about it?

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