Transitional Labour Markets, from theory to policy application. Can transitional labour markets contribute to a less traditional gender division of labour ? (original) (raw)
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Can Transitional Labour Markets Contribute to a Less Traditional Gender Division of Labour?
mjepsen@etui.org ePublications@SCU is an electronic repository administered by Southern Cross University Library. Its goal is to capture and preserve the intellectual output of Southern Cross University authors and researchers, and to increase visibility and impact through open access to researchers around the world. For further information please contact epubs@scu.edu.au. Abstract This paper seeks to clarify how the Transitional Labour Market concept can contribute to building an institutional framework able to progressively transform the current 'parity caregiver' and 'universal breadwinner' models into a 'universal caregiver' model. To this end, the paper will analyse the social policies and institutions that have been put in place in a number of European Union member states, examining also their impact on gender equality.
By the following years of industrial revolution, the family has started to evolve and welfare state’ s family related social policies have shaped gender values in the family in many ways. Women’ s housework division as a part of gender inequality on the society has been affected by various crossnational family policiesparticularly in childcare and parental leave regulations. In this paper, by using Esping-Andersen’ s Welfare State typology, I would compare childcare and parental leave policies among three basic welfare states as one inthe sense of gender equality.
Journal of family research, 2022
Objective: This article introduces the reader to the Special Issue "Labour markets, families and public policies shaping gender relations and parenting" and gives a theoretical and empirical overview of gender roles and gender equality in Europe. Background: This Special Issue analyses the connection between labour markets, families, social policy, and gender relations in several European countries. Method: The six included articles are based on qualitative and quantitative approaches and data that have been gathered in Finland, Norway, Poland, Spain, and across the entire EU. Results: Key findings are: (1) In less egalitarian countries, children of single parents suffer more nutritional, educational and social life deprivation. (2) The institutional design of parental leave can contribute to reproducing gender inequality in the use of leave. (3) The institutional design interacts with cultural norms in shaping fatherhood practices of migrant fathers. (4) Individualised, performance-based wage and career schemes can counteract the effects of gender-equalising family policies. (5) Fathers taking leave independently from the mother and for an extended period are more involved in childcare beyond the leave period, and (6) the use of longer unpaid parental leave by mothers leads to a more unequal distribution of childcare between the parents. Conclusion: This Special Issue highlights that even in the most egalitarian countries, there remain persistent challenges to achieving gender equality regarding labour market, institutions and family life.
Australia’s parental leave policy and gender equality - an international comparison
2012
This study examines Australia's new paid and unpaid parental leave provisions and compares them to recent developments in a number of European countries. Increasingly, gender equity goals have been incorporated in the formulation of the policy approaches within a number of these countries. In recent times the EU has been a powerful driver of incorporating gender equality goals in work and family policy areas. The study addresses the question of whether, and under what conditions, policies such as the introduction of parental leave have the potential to achieve meaningful shifts in the existing gender order within a society towards a more equal dual earner-carer household structure. It suggests that there are several dimensions to an integrated work/family strategy that are likely to deliver progress towards a more equal gender order.
Parental Leave Policy and Gender Equality in Europe
This article uses data from 2008–10 to analyze parental leave policies in twentyone European countries and their influence on men’s behavior. It examines entitlement characteristics, such as nontransferability, duration, payment, compulsory period, and other policies to assess their effect on the proportion of leave men use out of the total parental leave in each country. The findings, which suggest that a large majority of men take nontransferable and highly paid leave, and a small minority take other types, provide the basis for developing the Parental Leave Equality Index (PLEI). PLEI ranks countries by the degree to which parental leave policies reinforce or diminish the gendered division of labor. Results indicate that although Iceland’s parental leave policies do the most to advance gender equity, no country has equal, nontransferable, and wellpaid leave for each parent. This policy arrangement would be a precondition to men’s and women’s equal participation in childcare.
In this paper, I will present an overview of debates and empirical data concerning what has been called the "unfinished" gender equality revolution from the perspective of the gender division of paid and unpaid work and of the role of social policies in either supporting or weakening this division. I will first discuss research and debates on the link between the gender division of unpaid family work and inequality in the labour market. Then, focusing exclusively on parenthood as a crucial factor in (re-)producing differences between men and women as well as among men and among women, I will discuss how different childcare and parenthood policy packages contribute to strengthening or, on the contrary, reducing the gendered impact of parenthood on labour market participation and also social class differences among women. Finally, I will discuss how the present economic crisis and the global competition through labour costs may affect further developments in this policy field.
2011
In this paper, I will present an overview of debates and empirical data concerning what has been called the "unfinished" gender equality revolution from the perspective of the gender division of paid and unpaid work and of the role of social policies in either supporting or weakening this division. I will first discuss research and debates on the link between the gender division of unpaid family work and inequality in the labour market. Then, focusing exclusively on parenthood as a crucial factor in (re-)producing differences between men and women as well as among men and among women, I will discuss how different childcare and parenthood policy packages contribute to strengthening or, on the contrary, reducing the gendered impact of parenthood on labour market participation and also social class differences among women. Finally, I will discuss how the present economic crisis and the global competition through labour costs may affect further developments in this policy field.
Parental leave, childcare and gender equality in the Nordic countries
TemaNord, 2012
is a special researcher and head of unit at Finland's National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL). Her research focuses on balancing family and working life from a gender equality perspective. She is particularly interested in the effects of family policy on gender equality and welfare in everyday life.
Reforms in the Swedish Parental Leave System and their Effects on Gender Equality
2015
The father’s quota in the Swedish parental leave system aims at increasing fathers’ leave use but also gender equality in the home sphere and in the labor market. This study investigates the effects of the reform of one month reserved for fathers in 1995 and two months in 2002. We use parental benefit for the care for sick children as a proxy for division in the home, and the results indicate that the first reform led to a more equal sharing of care for sick children, mainly as women who had used a lot of benefit days earlier on reduced their use. Moreover, after the second reform women had better income development, especially women who had earlier had very low income, indicating an increased labor supply rather than a wage increase. The results indicate that the father’s quota at least in part also fulfilled the aim of gender equality outside the parental leave system.
Buying Women's Work: Various Approaches to Transferring Childcare
2011
This article employs theory and case-study methodology to examine variations on approaches to childcare that best enable women to join the non-domestic labor force. Employing women's non-domestic labor is crucial to ameliorating poverty and increasing a country's competitiveness. Yet, childbearing has been, and still proves to be, a keystone of labor division that hinders women's autonomy and ability to fully contribute. The divisions between perceived public (non-domestic) and private (domestic) spheres enhance the gender role conflict, mirroring the Marxist concepts of class creation, recognition, and struggle for autonomy. As an oppressed class realizes its oppression and gains public visibility, it gains valuable political power. Supporting this claim are historic moments where labor pool needs softened gender role rigidity-where women were able to work outside the home, advances in gender equality movements followed soon after. Therefore, with a methodological framework built on the public/private rhetorical divide and Gøsta Esping-Andersen's welfare regime clusters, this article determines which vi childcare policy configurations best supports female labor participation; side-effects of childcare policies are also noted. Social democrat approaches, such as Sweden's, prove most effective, treating childcare as a very public concern deserving of strong funding and protective legislation. The conservative/corporatist countries of Italy, Spain, and Germany, influenced by strong religious tradition, uphold the male-as-breadwinner family model, thus discouraging women from work and having more (or any) children. In the liberal economic regimes of the United States, Canada, and Great Britain, childcare needs are left to the family's discretion or private markets, which results in a you-getwhat-you-pay-for system that places huge burdens on impoverished families. In the developed East Asian regimes of Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, the mixture of strong Confucian family values and reliance on the private market and corporate social insurance schemes once again protects the male-as-breadwinner model; these countries currently experience the lowest birthrates in the world and rapidly shrinking taxation pools. Lastly, in the Latin American case studies of Chile and Uruguay, there exists a trend toward universal, public distribution of childcare services, but the lack of adequate public resources and parental leave laws overburdens mothers seeking to raise families and provide family income.