Within this chapter I want to shed light on the freelancers' family life, or more precisely, on how the freelancers arrange their family life in the context of the specificities of their work.
The discussion in chapter 7 already indicates that family arrangements are a very interesting topic in the context of freelancing, and possibly also some kind of ”acid test” for freelancing as a work form. In the context of this study, family arrangements appear to be especially relevant for two reasons: Firstly, the work-family balance appears to be a field where the freelancers are confronted with conflicting ”systemic requirements” which they have to deal with or handle in one way or another, thus constituting an interesting topic in the context of the analysis of new work patterns. Certainly these conflicting ”systemic requirements” have been posing problems and challenges to individuals in ”old” work relations as well. However, because the freelancers’ work organisation is to a certain degree
”self-programmable”, they might have other possibilities to combine the two realms as well as other challenges to meet. In chapter 7 we could also see that the better reconciliation of work and family life is indeed a reason the freelancers themselves are mentioning as one of the advantages of the work form of freelancing. Secondly, family policy and related norms and concepts differ very much in the two countries compared in this study. Therefore a look at the freelancers' family organisation appears to be rewarding from a comparative perspective as well.
One aspect that immediately catches the attention when looking comparatively at family issues is that most of the Danish interviewees in this study have children and most of the German interviewees do not. Taking into account that the majority of the Danish freelancers are on average several years younger than their German counterparts in this study (with the exception of Ole, who at 49 is the oldest freelancer in this study), we can also quite firmly rule out the argument that it is related to age bias.
Furthermore,at the interview stage, it already turned out to be difficult to recruit a female freelancer with children in Germany. In the final freelancer sample of this study, there are three freelancers based in Germany with children (2 male, 1 female) and four
without (3 female, 1 male), while five of the Danish freelancers do have children (3 female, 2 male) and only one does not (1 male). No claims for representativity are made with this sample. However it might still mirror the over-all picture, as in Denmark the total fertility rate41 in 2007 was 1.8, whereas in Germany it was 1.4 (UNICEF 2009). Whether or not the sample in this study reflects the over-all situation in Germany and Denmark and / or the situation amongst freelancers in the two countries can not be clarified here.
We can only speculate about possible reasons for this difference. Some authors (e.g.
Gottfried & O'Reilly 2002, Rüling & Kastner 2007) explain the low German fertility rates at least partly with the poor possibilities to combine work and family in the conservative welfare state's male breadwinner regime (see also chapter 4). However, in chapter 4 we saw as well that there has recently been a paradigm change/shift in German family policy. The proclaimed changes were certainly not implemented at the time the empirical material of this study has been collected.
The findings of this study presented in chapter 6, which included the appearance of a strong feeling of insecurity and anxiety among the German freelancers and its near absence among the Danish freelancers, might provide a possible pattern of explanation. Some authors (e.g. Düntgen & Diewald 2008, Kreyenfeld 2008) discuss and analyse the question of to what extent (economic) insecurity stemming from flexibilised work organisation affects individuals in their family planning in Germany, and they are indeed seeing a relation between ”atypical” working conditions and a delayed or suspended family planning. The fact that the German freelancers, in contrast to the Danish ones, in general expressed great feelings of insecurity and anxiety (chapter 6) might also serve as a possible explanation for the difference along country lines regarding having children or not.
However, these considerations are only hypothetical and cannot be analysed within the framework of this study.
41 The numbers presented here are the total fertility rates for the two respective countries, which aim to depict the the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime, if she were to experience the exact current age-specific fertility rates through her lifetime, and (2) she were to survive from birth through the end of her reproductive life.
Therefore in this chapter I will, relying on the empirical material of this study, present the family organisation and arrangements of those freelancers in the study who have children in more detail. Furthermore I am going to discuss the findings in the context of the research literature and the comparative framework of this study.
8.1. ”Workalism” vs Part-Time Freelancing
In chapter 7 I already discussed Susanne's ”workaholic” work patterns in the context of the
”invasive” power of work. As described, Susanne has a long working week with 55 – 60 hours per week. This makes her the freelance parent in the study working the longest hours, followed by Elena with 55 weekly hours on average. In chapter 7 I already remarked, that another commonality between them is that they are the family's breadwinner. In the case of Susanne, we could also see that the children were giving her reasons to make work breaks and to help her structure her working day. In contrast to these two more-than-full time freelancers, there are also two parents in the study practising freelancing with reduced hours, which means having a part-time schedule.
In chapter 6 and 7 I have mentioned that Jan practises freelancing like a part-time job. As it became clear previously, he took the decision to do so at the time of the birth of his first child four years ago. At the time of the interview his wife was expecting their second child. Before the birth of Jan's first child he had been renting out an office space at a design agency, but he then moved his work place to his home. He accounts for this move through the demands of the family, as he can save time for the family, and he can do household tasks in between his freelance work as well.42 He also structures his working time at least partly after the needs of the family and especially his daughter:
In the morning I firstly take my daughter to the nursery, and then I am back at around 9 a.m., I eat a little breakfast, and then I begin. [...] On Mondays and Fridays the nursery is open until 4 p.m., otherwise until 5 p.m., and then I pick her up. [...] Then my wife comes home around half past five and if there is nothing [no work, B.F.] then I continue looking after her, and then we are on the playground or something. And if there still is something [work, B.F.], then my wife takes over, while I continue working.
Then I have the evenings and sometimes the weekends, well, that' s quite flexible then.
And sometimes, if there are really extreme things, then my wife has to take my 42 see also below
daughter to the nursery, if there is no other way, if there are meetings, certain appointments and so on, right? But that is my little time frame... (case excerpt 5, appendix 1, p. 76 / interview transcript 5, appendix 2)
Thus, we can see that his childcare and household duties play a role in structuring his working life. From this description of his temporal organisation of work, however, we can ask ourselves if he really is working part-time, or if it is a more or less normal full-time working week he is pursuing. Jan, however, reports later on, that he is also doing a great deal of the household work (like cleaning) within the above named working hours.43
Another hint, which gives us reasons to interpret his work patterns as part-time work is that after the birth of his daughter he observed a slump in his turnover-volume, becoming half as big as it was before. His yearly freelance income at the time of the interview was under € 13 000 / kr 97 5000 (before and after tax), which is one of the lowest amongst the interviewees in this study. Therefore the before-after comparison especially and the low income strengthen the assumption that he is practising some kind of part-time (with more or less hours) work.
The low freelance income, especially in comparison with his statement that it was twice as large before the birth of his daughter and the start of his strong family commitment, shows us as well that the decision to prioritise family life is not without consequences for his freelance career. He states:
At this point it's really contradictory [in the context of stressful and “last minute jobs”, B.F.], you just have to cut back. Those are the jobs that now are more or less missing and that's why I am now earning considerably less than before, right? (case excerpt 5, appendix 1, p. 76 / interview transcript 5, appendix 2)
Amongst the freelancers interviewed, there is another who is practising freelancing part-time, namely Lise from Copenhagen, Denmark. She is an architecture graduate, working in the fields of logo and print design. She is 35 years old and has two children and is living together with them and her husband. Being the supplementary earner and working as a part-time freelancer is a very prominent topic in her narrative: This self-understanding influences a lot of her decisions, practices and strategies in her freelance
43 I will discuss work practices like this more detailed in the next chapter (chapter 7.8.2)
working life. She names the possibility to be a ”part-timer” as one reason why she actually started freelancing. Her part-time schedule is also the reason why she at several times in the interview presents herself as not being “seriously” self-employed.
The first one and a half years of freelancing she received a supplementary benefit (supplerende dagpenge) from the unemployment insurance, which was also why it was easy for her to practise freelancing in this way. She depicts this model as a conscious, joint choice by herself and her husband, when they had children:
And so it is a question of priorities, as we have small children. And it is not my income, it should stand and fall with. [...] This brought along [...] that he could work unhindered, so that if we have ill children, it is me who is in charge of it. So I didn't accept more jobs, only to an amount that I could see, there is a buffer zone as regards time. (case excerpt 9, appendix 1, p. 127 / interview transcript 9, appendix 2)
Her working day is, like Jan's, structured by the day-care times of her children. Her main work hours are from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.. Usually before deadlines she works additionally on three or four evenings for two or three hours. She has one regular job at the university she graduated from, filling seven hours a week. These seven hours she spends at the university, either on one day or dividing them to two mornings. From this description of her work organisation and her working hours, we can conclude, that she is working part-time with less hours than Jan. However, she falls in the same income bracket as Jan does, i.e. having a yearly freelance income below €13 000/ kr97 5000 (before and after tax).
Lise is very content with her reconciliation of work and family life, however, she is very aware that this is the case because she arranges it to be so:
My main priority has been, that at three o'clock it was over, because now it's children's time. (case excerpt 9, appendix 1, p. 127 / interview transcript 9, appendix 2)
As mentioned above, being a part-time freelancer with emphasis on childcare duties is of importance to a lot of her decisions and practices in working life in general. For instance, her motivation to work is not primarily based on the goal of earning money. She talks about this in the context of her plan for the near future to somehow get into full-time work (either as a full-time freelancer or as a full-time employee):
Well, so I am forced to have a completely different attitude towards my income. As I have to work in order to earn money. Now, I am working because it's fun. [...] Very often, I think, that my motivation stems from being asked. [...] That there is someone, who would like to have me for a job. (case excerpt 9, appendix 1, p. 127 / interview transcript 9, appendix 2)
Thus we can see that being the supplementary earner also contains a privilege, namely being free from the need to earn enough for a living and thus being able to work mainly for fun. However, Lise describes the experience as well that this prioritisation of childcare duties and her choice of being part-time has not served her career:
I have now tried to find a job. And I can really well see, that the fact, that I have taken out these years and said, I work as a self-employed on the back-burner, hasn't exactly spangled my CV. Well, I am not the one that is invited to a job interview, unless there are seven others, which are insisting and saying, it's her we should have.[...] Well, I am not the first choice. I don't know if it smells too much like [...] I have been a housewife, in the context of my work field. (case excerpt 9, appendix 1, p. 127 / interview transcript 9, appendix 2)
As we have seen in the case of Jan as well, the choice of being part-time seems to be not without consequences. The financial consequences, thematised in Jan's interview, are not as relevant to Lise because of her supplementary-earner-privilege of not being reliant on the earnings. However, it might be the case that her part-time job on the more symbolic level has negative consequences for her future career. In any case she suspects the latter.
On the basis of the cases of Lise and Jan, we can also see that there are not only consequences, but preconditions as well for being able to chose to be a part-time freelancer: In chapter 6 I pointed out, that Jan does not only have a wife, who is working full-time and earning a wage that is enough for financing the everyday of their family, but that he additionally has a quite luxurious financial cushion, which enables him to waive his previous, better income. The condition of having a financial cushion of some sort (savings and / or partner with a good wage) clearly applies in the case of Lise as well. It became very clear in her interview that in the preceding years her family has in no way been dependent on her income.
Comparing the two part-timers of this study, we can also identify an interesting difference between the two, namely concerning the evaluation of their part-time freelance
model: Lise, although stating that part-time freelancing was her choice and emphasising several advantages of the part-time model, in general evaluates it more negatively, e.g. by portraying it several times as a non-serious version of self-employment, thereby devaluing it herself. (see above) Jan is clearly not doing that, and instead he is blaming the branch and the customers for their flexibility demands, which are in his view very often non-compatible with childcare responsibilities. Additionally he is emphasising the importance of and the fulfilment stemming from childcare and household tasks (see above)
Interestingly enough this is a difference, Henninger and Gottschall (2007) have found between male and female time freelancers in Germany as well: The female part-timers were in general more negative about their work-family arrangement than the male part-timers, who appraise it as a win-win situation. Henninger and Gottschall conclude that freelance mothers, being the supplementary, part-time earners,continue to struggle with expectations arising from a traditional gender role, for men, this arrangement seems instead to be a result of personal choice and can be changed, if necessary. (ibid, p. 65)
Hennninger & Gottschall's study on freelancers in the German media industry reveals as well that Jan is not the only male part-time freelancer in Germany: Within the qualitative part of their study, in which they interviewed 39 freelancers in the fields of journalism, design and software development, focussing among other things on their family arrangements, they found five families with children with a female breadwinner and male part-time worker and care-giver. Drawing on a typology of family forms in combination with priorities in work and family life by Rüling at al (2004), they distinguish between “structurally equal” partnerships, i.e. partnerships in which both partners focus on work or family or a combination of both, and “structurally specified” partnerships, i.e.
partnerships in which the two partners differ in the priorities, therefore they are either living in a traditional male breadwinner/ female caretaker or a female breadwinner / male caretaker family. The latter they call a ”reversed gender role arrangement”. Their findings indicate that freelancers without children mainly live in “structurally equal” partnerships, whereas amongst those with children, “structurally different” partnerships are most wide-spread. However, this does not mean anymore that those are male-breadwinner families:
It is within these arrangements that we can observe a further change: among this group, partnerships based on traditional as well as on reversed gender roles are evenly represented. Thus, in our sample, gender arrangements based on reversed gender roles are emerging as a less traditional pattern, with men taking over care responsibilities.
On the one hand, this arrangement fits with the German institutional setting, characterized by a limited provision of (affordable) childcare and by half-day schooling, that promotes such a specialization; on the other hand, it contradicts the roles that gendered norms would predict for men and women. (Henninger &
Gottschall 2007, p. 66 & 67)
Thus, in the context of the German framework, we could imagine that the freelancing work form could promote such a reversed gender role family arrangement, taking into account the “bulimic career patterns” of freelance fathers and the financial importance of a second, steady income. However, in the case of Jan, we could at least partly question the hypothesis posed in the citation above, that it is the limited provision of day care, i.e. the German ”institutional” setting, that is responsible for his and his family's decision to opt for a “reversed gender role” model, as he reports to have found more or less full-time day-care for his daughter since she was around one year old. I would rather argue that it has (at least partly) something to do with ideological or normative understandings, which are certainly connected with the institutional setting. I will elaborate further on that thought in the next section (chapter 8.2.)
Of course, we have to take into account that Lise's part-time work is taking place in a quite different context, namely in the Danish institutional context, that supports a dual-earner model. The dual-dual-earner model is also rooted on a normative level. (see discussion in chapter 4) Therefore although the difference in evaluation between male and female part-time freelancers can be found in Henninger's and Gottschall's study in Germany as well, we
Of course, we have to take into account that Lise's part-time work is taking place in a quite different context, namely in the Danish institutional context, that supports a dual-earner model. The dual-dual-earner model is also rooted on a normative level. (see discussion in chapter 4) Therefore although the difference in evaluation between male and female part-time freelancers can be found in Henninger's and Gottschall's study in Germany as well, we