Generous parental leave policies are popular in a number of countries around the world and are usually seen as a sign of the 'family friendliness' of the state. Relying on in-depth interviews with mothers on parental leave in Hungary, the authors argue that the context in which the policies are implemented should be examined when evaluating their consequences. In semi-peripheral, resource-poor Hungary lengthy parental leave policies turn women into an invisible 'reserve army of labourers'. While their employment is mostly unaccounted for in aggregate statistics, and political discourse suggests that their 'job' is to look after children, nevertheless many women do end up doing some work for wages during the almost five years they spend on parental leave. However, given the rigidity of the labour market and rampant discrimination against mothers with small children, their chances of obtaining formal employment are small. They therefore resort to doing ad hoc, temporary, informal work, which is often underpaid and well below their qualifications. Thus generous family policies do not necessarily indicate the 'women friendliness' of the state and may not lead to the relatively favourable trade-off between stable public sector work and lower wages suggested recently by comparative researchers. Instead, in this specific context, which combines legacies of state socialism, a backlash against women's emancipation before 1990 and a peripheral, vulnerable labour market, familialist policies are associated with a high degree of marginalisation for women with small children in which the state is at best complicit, at worst, an active agent.

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Applying the main principles of the Social Model of Disability as a guide, this paper argues that the attitudes and beliefs of staff and volunteers employed in frontline service delivery can play an important role in the achievement of dementia friendly communities, particularly through influencing the types of services offered. This position is supported through findings of an evaluation of an awareness raising intervention run by Age UK, aimed at organisations which provide services for people living with dementia in England. The paper contributes to an understanding of the cultural climate within frontline service delivery, which is often neglected in favour of discussions around meeting more immediate care and support needs. More specifically, it reflects on whether there is a need for an additional conceptualisation within the discourse around dementia friendly communities which ensures inclusion of the cultural environment.