The mass entry of women into the labor market, the decline of the male breadwinner norm and the rise of the dual-earner family have all profoundly transformed the societies of the Western industrialized world. This book argues that childcare has become increasingly "defamilized" or collectivized as mothers have joined the labor market, causing significant impact on welfare policies. As a result, the complex relationship between family change and policy reform calls for a rethinking of the relationship between the welfare state, labor markets and working parents. Rather than concentrating on...

The mass entry of women into the labor market, the decline of the male breadwinner norm and the rise of the dual-earner family have all profoundly transformed the societies of the Western industrialized world. This book argues that childcare has become increasingly "defamilized" or collectivized as mothers have joined the labor market, causing significant impact on welfare policies. As a result, the complex relationship between family change and policy reform calls for a rethinking of the relationship between the welfare state, labor markets and working parents. Rather than concentrating on...

Demographic and societal changes are strongly affecting the contexts of childhood and the experience of being children. At the same time, across social groups and across societies, diversities and inequalities in childhood are taking new forms. In the developed world, in particular, children their number, their welfare, their education, the division of power and responsibilities over them among the different social actors have entered the public agenda, at the national and supranational level. Public concern over issues such as fertility rates, mothers working, early childhood education and...