Flexicurity and Gender Equality: advancing flexicarity policies in Denmark and Spain (original) (raw)
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From Flexicurity to FlexicArity? Gendered Perspectives on the Danish model
Journal of Social Sciences, 2007
In Europe, flexicurity is seen as a way to develop labour markets so they will stay or be more competitive and at the same time secure the European welfare tradition. The Danish welfare society builds on a division of work and cooperation between the labour market and the welfare state. This division and cooperation also applies to the Danish flexicurity model which this article focuses on from a gender perspective. The analysis presented here relates to the labor market, the welfare state, and the active labor market policy. The article shows that welfare policies on public care and individual rights have supported women's labor market participation and economic and political empowerment. It is thus suggested to change the name to the Danish flexicarity model. Furthermore, the article shows that the active labor market policy does not improve women's employability to the same extent as men's and it is therefore suggested that further research into the gendered consequences of the active labor market policy should be undertaken.
2008
The Danish labor market system is often referred to as the Danish Model. It is an example of flexicurity, a term that combines the words security and flexibility. This system boasts of more than 100 years of history, and it is one of the preconditions for the rich Danish welfare state, which has a generally high income based on rather small but adaptable firms. The basis for this system is the collective agreements established through negotiation with a "balance of compromise" accepted by both employers and employees. The state normally does not interfere in the negotiations. The well-functioning Danish Model has many similarities with the systems in the other Nordic countries. The word flexicurity was first used in the Netherlands J. Burchardt (*) Museum Vestfyn,
Flexicurity: Lights and shadows in Europe and Spain.
Since the European Union creation, some policies like economy, employment, immigration and so on are no longer only a national issue. With the european integration process, countries accepted several commitments with others and with european institutions. Regarding employment and labour market, are one of the main concerns within the EU, specially since the beginning of the current crisis. However, the policies which have been fostered from Europe have a clear ideological direction, the neoliberalism and the capitalism1, and that means the implementation of a concrete set of actions. In this work we are going to analyze a concrete model regarding the labour market, the Danish flexicurity model, to know its characteristics and its hypothetical implementation in other countries, in this case, Spain.
Flexicurity - an open method of coordination, at the national level ?
2009
Flexicurity, as a notion, has spread since 2000, from its use in Netherlands and Denemark. The origin of the word is well known : invented by a sociologist who was an aide to the Dutch minister of labour in 1990. Demark became emblematic of flexicurity in 2004-2005. We compare public and social debates in Denmark and in France during from
Flexicurity or Flexicarity? A Portuguese Overview
2016
Due to the increasing competition on the labour market, the search for new approaches to labour legislations led to the creation and adoption, in some countries, of so called “flexicurity”. “Flexicurity” became top of the list in the policy agenda in the European Union, but there is doubt that such an agenda for encompassing labour market reform providing not employment. As sources are used “flexicurity” models, in countries where it has already been successfully implemented, as well as Eurostat data, information made available by the European Commission, as well as doctrinal and research papers. Portuguese jurisdiction is considered by national legal doctrine as a closed model. Heavy regulation and constitutional constraints drive an almost unanimous rejection of the possibility to introduce the concept at national level. This article's goal is to discuss the ways the concept could be introduced in the Portuguese jurisdiction. Would the model effectively create security, or wou...
Flexicurity: A conceptual critique
European Journal of Industrial Relations, 2011
Flexicurity' has become an influential concept in academic and political discourse, in particular since the European Commission placed it at the core of the European Employment Strategy. However, the concept is underdeveloped and suffers from a number of serious shortcomings. In this article we discuss a number of its problematic features. In particular, we focus on four aspects: its ambiguity and openness to political capture; its failure to problematize the creation of institutional complementarities; its lack of attention to conflicts of interest and to the heterogeneity of the labour market; and its reductionist view of the sources of flexibility and security. We illustrate this discussion with a series of empirical examples. Finally, we conclude that the flexicurity approach should either be abandoned, or be substantially improved.
Gender equality policies in Spain- update
While gender equality policies have been institutionalized and consolidated in Spain until 2008, the 2009-2016 period shows backlash provoked by austerity policies adopted in response to the economic crisis. Institutional dismantlement, budget cuts, legislative standstill, policy reforms with negative gender impacts, and problems of implementation indicate an uncertain future for gender equality policies in Spain. This study maps developments in Spanish gender equality institutions, laws, and policies, including employment, care, political and economic decision-making, gender-based violence, and sexual and reproductive rights. 
2007
From a sociological perspective, 'flexicurity' poses important problems of definition. We will test whether, if taken in sufficiently broad terms, 'flexicurity' is susceptible to provide a broad 'portmanteau' or macro-concept collecting present reform strategies or present designs for reforms in many countries. This has however a cost: it dispenses with much of the specific substance identified in the institutional arrangements of the two original 'flexicurity' countries, Denmark and the Netherlands. This all-encompassing capacity of the word was illustrated in 2005-2006, when the notion was gradually integrated into the employment part of the 'Lisbon strategy'. All said and told, the question remains whether 'flexicurity', as a macro-concept, is worth what can be seen as a considerable loss of substance. Can the notion escape the fate of other trendy catchwords?