Certainly the concept of choice reflects an implicit assumption that other choices can be made and that the person making the choice is rational. I think it is rational to a certain extent in a country that has made it clear it has absolutely no concern for how women are going to survive. If women can't get on employment insurance, then let them go on social assistance payments and lose their life savings, lose their house, whatever. That level of disregard I think also underestimates the value of true choice. I think women's involvement in part-time work is purely adaptive, and it has been statistically demonstrated that when some of the barriers have been taken away from women, as in Quebec, they immediately move out of part-time work into more income-productive work. What's been happening is that women who work part time have been choosing to work two or more jobs to make ends meet because they just can't get the flexibility they may need in their work lives.
On March 29th, 2010. See this statement in context.