Work

Determinants of a Silent (R)evolution: Understanding the Expansion of Family Policy in Rich OECD Countries

Year: 2014

Type: article

Abstract: This paper contributes to the comparative social policy literature in two ways.First, we use multiple correspondence analysis in order to assess the different directions and the degree of (employment-oriented) family policy change over the past three decades in 18 rich Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.Second, we perform a series of correlations to identify the core drivers of these developments.Our main findings-based on five international datasets-are: (i) we have been witnesses of a significant expansion of family policies over the past three decades in almost all countries analysed, although the degree of change (distinguished by first-, second-and third-order change) differs across the OECD area; and (ii) whilst in the 1980s and 1990s social democracy and organised women were key drivers of family policy expansion, during the 2000s public opinion, that increasingly seems to support a "modernised" family lifestyle in which mothers are employed, seems to have played an essential role in explaining policy change.

Source: Social Politics International Studies in Gender State & Society

DOI: 10.1093/sp/jxu027

Authors: E. Ferragina, M. Seeleib-Kaiser

Institution: University of Oxford

Language: English

Topic: Social Policies and Family

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Gender equality

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,631