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This article examines the employment patterns of new mothers from one year before the birth of their first child until its fifth birthday in Sweden, Germany, Britain, the Netherlands and Japan. Data on the labour force status of mothers was drawn from household panel data from each country. That data showed significant differences in the employment patterns of new mothers. This article discusses the developments in family policies that may explain differences between employment patterns of new mothers in the five countries. In particular, the authors contrast family policies in Sweden with those of the other countries because since the 1970s Sweden has had the most wide-ranging set of policies to benefit the dual-career family. In addition, using a few examples from the Netherlands and Sweden, this article discusses what trade unions can do in their respective countries in order to move society towards truly shared breadwinning and shared parenthood between women and men.
