Working Parents and the Welfare State
Family Change and Policy Reform in Scandinavia

This book uses data from Finland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden to rethink welfare policy.

Arnlaug Leira (Author)

9780521144971, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 24 June 2010

192 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.1 cm, 0.29 kg

Review of the hardback: 'This is a timely study which details important changes and their significance.' Journal of Social Policy

The mass entry of women 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 industrialised world. This book argues that childcare has become increasingly 'defamilised' or collectivised as mothers have joined the labour market, causing significant impact on welfare policies. As a result, the complex relationship between family change and policy reform calls for a rethinking of the relationship between the welfare state, labour markets and working parents. Rather than concentrating on the changing models of motherhood, Leira advocates the need to consider the effects of the gendered division of work and welfare on fathers' opportunities to be supported as carers for children. Her analysis incorporates important new empirical data from Finland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

1. Introduction: changes in the social order
2. Politicising childcare
3. Work, family and the welfare state: problems of reconciliation
4. Parental leave: childcare refamilised
5. From mother's wage to parental choice: cash benefits for childcare
6. Childcare as a social right: family change and policy reform.

Subject Areas: Social welfare & social services [JKS], Gender studies, gender groups [JFSJ]