Women, Families, and Work in Spain: Structural Changes and New Demands

Abstract

This article explores the evolution of the care economy in Spain in the latter half of the twentieth century, analyzing the time use of family members, women's entrance into paid employment, and welfare state policies. Our historical account suggests that efforts to strengthen women's position in the labor market must go hand in hand with policies that encourage more equitable sharing of care responsibilities.Care, Child Care, Welfare, Social Security, Time Use, Spain,

Aging in rural areas of Spain: the influence of demography on care strategies

“…feminist literature has raised awareness of the unsustainability of this model, which has been transformed in the last decades (Bettio, Simonazzi, & Villa, 2006;Carrasco & rodríguez, 2000). The increasing participation of women in the labor market, together with the rise of values of independence is often pointed to as one of the reasons why women are less available to perform their traditional role as care providers.…”

Behind the negotiations: Financial decision-making processes in Spanish dual-income couples

“…In the last years, efforts have been made to help workers reconcile work and family life and to implement measures to facilitate the care of dependent persons. However, families (mainly women) still assume most of the responsibility for the care of children and dependent family members; moreover, as Cristina Carrasco and Arantxa Rodríguez (2000) point out, women do not withdraw from the responsibility for caring for others when they find employment. Thus, some authors consider ''familism'' to be an essential feature of Spain (Chiara Saraceno 1995;Manuela Naldini 2003).…”

Total work time in Spain: evidence from time diary data

“…1 Spain has a lower female labour-force participation rate compared to Northern European countries (EUROSTAT, 2013), with a rate of around 58%. Spain also has an inflexible labour market, where part-time employment is quite rare (Fernández-Kranz and Rodríguez-Planas, 2011) and the implementation of family-friendly policies is very limited (Carrasco and Rodriguez, 2000). As for the implementation of family-friendly policies, the portion of gross domestic product (GDP) devoted by the government to gender-equality policies has increased from 0.5% in 1998 to 1.1% in 2005, although this portion is still the lowest in the EU (EUROSTAT, 2013).…”