States, Markets, Families

Abstract

The 1990s have seen dramatic restructuring of state social provision in the US, the UK, Canada and Australia. This has occurred largely because of the rise of market liberalism, which challenges the role of the state. This important book examines the impact of changes in social policy regimes on gender roles and relations. Structured thematically and systematically comparative, it analyses three key policy areas: labor markets, income maintenance and reproductive rights. Largely driven by issues of equality, it considers the role of the state as a site for gender and sexual politics at a time when primacy is given to the market, developing an argument about social citizenship in the process. Eminent scholars in the field, Julia O'Connor, Ann Orloff and Sheila Shaver make a landmark contribution to debates about social policy and gender relations in this era of economic restructuring and deregulation.

An Audit of the Welfare Modelling Business

“…Esping‐Andersen (1999) incorporates de‐familization in response to his feminist critics (eg Lewis 1992; Sainsbury 1994; 1996; Siaroff 1994; O'Connor et al . 1999; Daly 2000).…”

Welfare Policy Comparisons

“…This was challenged on validity grounds (spending may not reflect welfare effort, and it tells one little about what kind of welfare is being produced and for whom). More recently has emerged an explicit gender perspective aiming to identify how welfare policies influence gender relations and, more broadly, the revolution of women's roles (O'Connor et al, 1999;Gornick and Meyers, 2003;Esping-Andersen, 2009). Most conceptualizations begin with Marshall's (op.…”

“…Specific policy variations are linked to either welfare state typologies (as in the case of Gornick and Meyers, 2003;Stier et al, 2001), or to male breadwinner typologies (Lewis, 1993), and welfare systems are often ranked in terms of their degree of 'women friendliness' (for an overview, see O'Connor, 1996). A second finding is that welfare systems that grant women independent entitlements enhance both individual autonomy and gender equality (O'Connor et al, 1999). One, day care provision is a powerful precondition for women's economic independence, for their capacity to harmonize careers and family, and also for safeguarding against poverty in singleparent families (Gornick and Meyers, 2003).…”

Welfare regimes and the welfare mix

“…Gosta Esping‐Andersen's (1990) book entitled The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism famously produced a threefold typology of social democratic, conservative and liberal welfare regimes. It has become one of the most central and most cited contributions to recent comparative social policy, leading to a protracted debate on what Abrahamson (1999) identifies as ‘the welfare modeling business’ (see also Castles 1998; O’Connor et al 1999; Bonoli et al 2000; Daly 2000; Pierson 2000; Room 2000; Ebbinghaus & Manow 2001; Goodin 2001; Goodin & Rein 2001; Obinger & Wagschal 2001; Wildeboer Schut et al 2001; Wincott 2001; Arts & Gelissen 2002; Kvist 2002; Pennings 2002).…”