Working parents and the welfare state : family change and policy reform in Scandinavia /
Arnlaug Leira.
- viii, 182 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Includes bibliographical references (pages 157-175) and index.
Introduction: changes in the social order -- Politicising childcare -- Work, family and the welfare state: problems of reconciliation -- Parental leave: childcare refamilised -- From mother's wave to parental choice: cash benefits for childcare -- Childcare as a social right: family change and policy reform. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
"The mass entry of mothers into the labour market, the decline of the male breadwinner norm and the rise of the dual-earner family have all profoundly transformed the societies of the Western world. How to welfare states approach the reconciliation of paid work with the responsibilities for the care of young children? Arnlaug Leira's timely book examines the politicising of childcare: childcare is reconceptualised as a joint venture of parents and the welfare state, and as an entitlement or social right of working mothers and fathers." "Drawing upon new empirical material from Scandinavia, Leira's thoughtful analysis centres on the interplay of family change and policy reform. At times, social change precedes policy reform - motherhood changed to include employment, then policy was altered; sometimes policy change comes first - the political promotion of fathercare has preceded large-scale change to fatherhood. Fathers less than mothers use the right to be carers, and gender-neutral childcare policies usually reinforce the gendered division of work and welfare."--BOOK JACKET.
0521571294 9780521571296 0521577764 9780521577762
2002283194
Family policy--Scandinavia Welfare state Work and family--Scandinavia Working mothers--Scandinavia Children of working parents--Scandinavia Sexual division of labor--Scandinavia