3 results
four - Fathers’ rights to family cash benefits in Nordic countries
- Edited by Guðný Björk Eydal, Tine Rostgaard, Stockholms universitet Institutionen för socialt arbete
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- Book:
- Fatherhood in the Nordic Welfare States
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 04 March 2022
- Print publication:
- 26 November 2014, pp 79-100
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Summary
Introduction
All five Nordic countries have developed from a ‘male breadwinner’ model of the welfare state, in which the idea of the family celebrates marriage and a strict division of labour between father and mother, towards an ‘individual’ model whereby each spouse is individually responsible for their own maintenance, and fathers and mothers share the burden of financially supporting and caring for their children (Millar and Warman, 1996; Sainsbury, 1996). In the literature, the Nordic version of the individual model is often referred to as the dual earner/dual carer model (Mahon, 2002; Leira, 2006), and thus at the end of the continuum of models of gendered division of labour, described by Crompton (1999), running from a traditional male breadwinner/female carer to an idealised dual earner/dual carer society. In the dual earner/dual carer model, the explicit policy goal is to promote gender equality, the equal sharing of the responsibility of care for children and paid work among men and women. Thus, the contemporary Nordic welfare systems have developed policies to enable mothers to work and fathers to care and, for the most part, have abolished entitlements to breadwinner supplements in the form of cash benefits and tax deductions, emphasising individual entitlements (Jepsen et al, 1997).
Despite the fact that the development from the male breadwinner model towards the dual earner/dual carer model has been well accounted for in the welfare literature, few studies have focused on the development of fiscal and cash family benefits available for fathers, and how the welfare state has contributed to the shaping of fatherhood in that respect (for exceptions, see Hobson, 2002; Oláh et al, 2002; Haataja and Nyberg, 2006). This chapter thus examines the rights of fathers in Nordic countries to welfare cash transfers, including child benefit, child maintenance, paid parental leave and tax benefits for parents, here referred to overall as ‘family benefits’. The chapter examines if the rights of fathers to these family benefits are in accordance with the dual earner/dual carer model, whether or not both parents have the same rights, and if not, if rights are associated with parental gender.
ten - Diverging paths? The dual-earner/dual-carer model in Finland and Sweden in the 1990s
- Edited by Anne Lise Ellingsæter, Arnlaug Leira
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- Book:
- Politicising Parenthood in Scandinavia
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 15 January 2022
- Print publication:
- 07 June 2006, pp 217-240
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Summary
Introduction
In much feminist comparative research on welfare state policies, Finland and Sweden are seen as similar cases. Both countries have for a long time supported gender equality by policies encouraging employment for mothers and childcare for fathers. Both are welfare states that have moved away from the male breadwinner model and towards a dual-earner/dual-carer model. This is confirmed in a recently conducted state-of-the-art review of welfare states and motherhood, where the two nations were classified in the same category in all 13 studies that included both countries (European Commission, 2002). There are also, however, researchers who oppose the idea of Finland and Sweden supporting the same kind of model. Mahon (2002) argues, for example, that since the 1990s, the two states have promoted different models. In her terminology, parenthood policies in Sweden continue to be committed to strengthening the egalitarian model, while the more recent development in Finland reflects a move towards neofamilialism.
This means, according to Mahon, that in Finland the development is moving towards a model that encourages parents to stay at home for long periods after the birth of a child, and thus departs from the basis of institutionalised childcare as a right of social citizenship. This model emphasises choice between a (temporary) homemaker role and paid employment. In Sweden, on the other hand, the development exhibits a continued commitment to and strengthening of the egalitarian model. This has been pursued through a dramatic expansion of publicly financed childcare – even in the 1990s, in spite of the economic recession – and the introduction of the ‘daddy quota’ in the parental leave, which offers incentives for parents to share infant care. The parental leave is short enough to limit adverse effects on women's income and situation in the labour market, and the supply of public childcare is large enough to cover demand.
We believe that any analysis of change in policy models and their outcomes needs to be interpreted in relation to labour market developments and macro-economic conditions more generally. These are important premises for parents’ opportunities of choice. It is sometimes assumed that policies furthering women's position and gender equality are prone to retrogression and to cutbacks in times of economic recession. In such an economic situation women might increasingly be defined through motherhood, while men are increasingly defined as workers and earners.
thirteen - Family leave and employment in the EU: transition of working mothers in and out of employment
- Edited by Birgit Pfau-Effinger, Birgit Geissler
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- Book:
- Care and Social Integration in European Societies
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 18 January 2022
- Print publication:
- 07 September 2005, pp 255-278
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Summary
Towards gender equality in European employment policy
At the Lisbon Summit in 2000, the European Council set for the first time a separate target of 60% for female employment in addition to the existing target of 70% for male and female (overall) employment. The employment gap between women and men has tended to hover around 20 percentage points in the EU. In 2000, women's employment rate was 54.0% and men's 72.5%. Increasing female employment is therefore the most challenging goal in European employment policy (Joint Employment Report, 2001).
From the gender perspective, the increased female employment is a challenge for economic equality, equal independence and autonomy both for women and men. However, this is not the main argument for gender equality in the EU. Welfare states need higher employment rates among the working-age population because of the need to guarantee a sustainable economy as well as the financing of the welfare states in the future. The dual breadwinner model may be more effective than one earner model in preventing poverty during social risk situations such as unemployment and sickness (Employment in Europe, 1994, pp 140-2; Haataja, 1999).
Ageing populations and decreasing fertility rates pose a threat for the future survival and development of welfare states. Female employment has increased at the same time as fertility rates have decreased in many countries. Comparing trends from the early 1970s until the early 1990s, female employment has increased simultaneous with fertility rates only in the Nordic countries (Hoem, 1993; Background Document, 1999; Rønsen, 1999). One explanation of this exceptional development may be that in the Nordic countries, investment in social policies, especially in the area of policies that help to reconcile work and child rearing, was increased during the 1970s and 1980s. Secondly, individualised taxation and social rights were one part of this progress, developing family leave entitlements the second part. Thirdly, the introduction and expansion of public daycare schemes during this period was perhaps the best explanation of the Nordic phenomenon. If this conclusion is right, the Nordic case is a good example of the meaning of social policy as a ‘productive factor’. As Escobedo (1999, p 176) has pointed out, we should take into account the costs and benefits of both the availability and the absence of reconciling policies.