Changing Temporal Opportunity Structures? Two Cohorts of Young Women’s Thoughts about Future Work, Family and Education

Abstract

This article seeks to explore if and how period specific conditions affect young women’s thoughts about their future lives. A contextualist analysis is done of a small sample of biographical interviews with Norwegian women in two cohorts born 1970–1975 and 1990–1995 interviewed 20 years apart when they were in their early 20s. The focus is on their thoughts about future education, work and family. Theoretically the article relates itself to concepts of time and temporalities in life course theory. Inspired by Ken Roberts’ concept of opportunity structures, the notion termed ‘temporal opportunity structures’ emerged from the analysis. The analyses demonstrate how wider period specific circumstances and standards of timeliness form a landscape that young women navigate when they envisage future options and opportunities. Findings indicate differences between the two cohorts in biographical timing in that standards of timeliness and temporal opportunity structures appear to have narrowed.