Family policies in the United Kingdom : work-family balance policies as a paradigm shift?

  • This report seeks to examine major changes that occurred in the last 10 years in the UK in the sphere of family policies, or more specifically, the introduction of policies aimed at the reconciliation of working and family life. The changes were addressed from two perspectives. On the one hand, Peter Hall’s concept of three different types of changes in policy – change in levels of existing instruments, changes to the instruments themselves, and changes in policy goals, has been employed, and a conclusion reached that there has been a paradigmatic shift: policy goals themselves changed. Family welfare and reconciliation of work and family life became legitimate policy goals. The other approach was to look at the changes from the perspective of gendered welfare state discussions, and ask the question in what way has the character of the UK gendered welfare state changed – specifically concerning state support for a different division of care and paid labour between men and women? The preliminary conclusion is that new UK policies make a beginning commitment in this respect but fall short of effectively encouraging major change: they do facilitate the reconciliation of work and family for women, but still provide moderate to weak levels of support for the involvement of men in child-rearing.

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Metadaten
Document Type:Working Paper
Language:English
Author(s):Nevena Ivanović
Hertie Collections (Serial Number):Hertie School Working Papers Series (11)
Publication year:2008
Publishing Institution:Hertie School
Release Date:2010/07/22
Licence of document (German):Creative Commons - CC BY - 4.0 International
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