Gender differences in response to family crisis: changes in household composition and migration of widowed parents with minor children in the Netherlands, 1863–1910

Abstract

This article examines parental coping strategies in response to the death of a partner in the Netherlands in the period 1863–1910. The author concentrates on two largely neglected strategies in particular: separation of widowed parent and minor child and the outmigration of the entire household to another municipality. The rich population register data from the Historical Sample of the Netherlands is exploited which contains the life trajectories of more than 2800 half-orphaned children. The results derived from sequence analysis and event-history analysis reveal a high degree of family stability following the partner’s death but point to gender differences in coping strategies: Whereas widowers were more likely to split up with their young children, widows were more likely to migrate together with them. These gender differences can be explained by the fundamentally different positions of men and women concerning childcare, work and poor relief in Dutch society during the period under consideration. Additionally, no significant differences between nuclear and non-nuclear households were found with regard to parental separation from minor children. This finding challenges the nuclear hardship hypothesis which predicts that non-nuclear family systems are better able to cope with family crises.

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