Is it time for Irish women to go Dutch?

Published: Monday, August 22, 2011

With part-time work the norm among young Dutch mothers, is it any surprise that they are happier than their counterparts in other countries around the world?

FOR OUT-OF-WORK Irish women, including victims of the current economic malaise, Wieteke Spruijt-de Boer's decision to turn down a choice of potentially fulfilling, well-paid full-time jobs recently might be greeted with astonishment.

Yet the 44-year-old Dutch mother of four, a trained psychologist, currently unemployed, is determined to hold out for a part-time job of no more than three days a week since her contract in sales with an agency marketing drugs on behalf of pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly ended.

In common with most working women in the Netherlands today she believes there is more to life than the treadmill and stress of long hours and total commitment of a demanding full-time job, at the expense of family and leisure time.

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