Objective: Previous research in various countries has found that employment–family trajectories characterized by early or single motherhood, or weak ties to employment, are associated with poor well-being among older women. Our paper explores whether this differs (1) in France, characterized by a high female employment rate and supportive family policies; (2) across dimensions of well-being. Method: We used the Health and Occupational Itinerary survey to identify 10 common patterns of employment–family trajectories (derived from multi-channel sequence analysis) and analysed their association with six indicators of well-being in 2010 ( N = 2882 50–78 years old women). Results: Continuous full-time employment is associated with better well-being, except for women who had a first child around 24 years old, who reported increased anxiety and lack of support. Discussion: Employed mothers’ well-being seems to be protected in a context of family friendly policies, but we identified one group with lower well-being, which merits further study.

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RésuméLes femmes durablement retirées du marché du travail, souvent appelées « femmes au foyer », sont peu étudiées dans le champ académique français. Cette invisibilité n’est pas sans enjeux. Elle entrave la compréhension de la stratification sociale, et perpétue des rapports sociaux de genre en niant la valeur du travail domestique. À partir des données longitudinales rétrospectives (enquête SIP 2006-1010), cet article dresse un bilan statistique des situations d’inactivité professionnelle déclarées par les hommes et les femmes et questionne ce manque d’intérêt. Nous montrons que les périodes d’inactivité professionnelle liées aux configurations familiales continuent de marquer une majorité de parcours de vie féminins, et peuvent être analysées comme un fait social. La catégorie statistique de l’inactivité professionnelle produit en partie leur invisibilité, car en plus de rendre difficile leur objectivation, elle les regroupe avec des situations aux caractéristiques très distinctes, notamment masculines. AbstractWomen who are permanently withdrawn from the labour market, often called “housewives”, are little studied in the French academic field. This invisibility is not without its challenges. It hinders the understanding of social stratification and perpetuates gender relations by denying the value of domestic work. Using retrospective longitudinal data (SIP surveys 2006-1010), this article draws up a statisticalassessment of the situations of professional inactivity declared by men and women and questions this lack of interest. We show that periods of professional inactivity linked to family configurations continue to mark a majority of women’s life paths, and can be  analysed as a social fact. The statistical category of professional inactivity partly produces their invisibility, because in addition to making it difficult to objectify them, it groups them together with situations with very distinct characteristics, particularly for men.