The Welfare State and Gender Equality

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Bergqvist
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
General Pattern ◽  
State Policies ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Household Work ◽  
Different Shapes ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Welfare State

In all welfare states there is a general pattern where women have more substantial care obligations than men. Women usually do more household work than men, including taking care of children and elderly relatives. However, the pattern takes different shapes according to how social arrangements and policies are constructed. Welfare state policies have an impact on how work and family commitments are combined, and thereby also affect gender equality. The Swedish welfare state has explicitly been designed with the goal to increase gender equality. In this individual earner-carer model women as well as men are encouraged and expected to be breadwinners as well as caregivers. The question is how far it has succeeded.

scholarly journals ISLAM AND MUSLIM-CHRISTIAN RELATIONS IN NORWAY

2019 ◽  
pp. 225-240
Author(s):  
Leirvik Oddbjørn
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Identity Politics ◽  
Trust Building ◽  
Muslim Population ◽  
Majority Population ◽  
Close Observation ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Welfare State ◽  
The Way

In this paper the author describes and analyzes central features of Islam and Muslim-Christian relations in Norway. By close observation of the tension between interreligious solidarity and aggressive identity politics, the author highlights some central features of the trust-building Christian-Muslim dialogue in Norway. He also notes how anti-Islamic sentiments in part of the majority population are reflected in radicalization among some Muslim youths. However, the situation in general is described in more optimistic terms. He also identifies two examples showing that the majority of the Muslim population seem to endorse strong values evident in society in general– such as the welfare state and gender equality. Finally, the author poses the question pertaining to the way in which Christians and Muslims may adopt a unified stance against extremism.

scholarly journals Welfare state impact on mental wellbeing of the oldest old in Europe: A multilevel survey data study

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
J Kalseth
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Subjective Wellbeing ◽  
Social Trust ◽  
Oldest Old ◽  
Mental Wellbeing ◽  
Formal Support ◽  
Labour Market Participation ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Welfare State

Abstract Background Improving the health and wellbeing of the oldest old population is a key public health policy concern considering the rapid aging of the world’s population. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of the welfare state on different aspects of mental wellbeing of the oldest old population in Europe. Several approaches to measure welfare state types were compared. Methods The study used individual level data from Round 6 of the European Social Survey to measure six dimensions of mental wellbeing among the 80+ population including countries belonging to the European Union or European Economic Area. Welfare state types were measured using one welfare state- and three elderly care regime typologies, as well as three welfare state dimensions based on factor analyses of several welfare state characteristics. Welfare state impact on mental wellbeing was analysed by multilevel regression analyses, controlling for age and gender. Results The preliminary results show that universalistic and service-based regimes, as e.g. Nordic countries, are associated with higher level of subjective wellbeing and social trust, but not psychological wellbeing, compared to family-based regimes with low formal support. East Europe have lower scores on all dimensions compared to Nordic countries. The welfare state dimension capturing prioritisation of health and social services and gender equality is positively associated with all wellbeing aspects, whereas the factors capturing labour market participation of seniors and income equality respectively, are only significantly associated with subjective wellbeing and social trust. Conclusions The result point to caring approaches with high level of formal support and gender equalisation as key to enhance all aspects of mental wellbeing for the oldest old. Stimulating long duration of working life and reducing income inequalities have the potential to increase life satisfaction and happiness and social trust. Key messages Welfare state matter for the mental wellbeing in the oldest old population. General measures, supporting formal care, labour market participation and income and gender equality will also benefit the oldest old.

scholarly journals Muslims in Norway: Value Discourses and Interreligious Dialogue

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oddbjørn Leirvik
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Interreligious Dialogue ◽  
Political Extremism ◽  
Public Debates ◽  
Generational Changes ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Conservative Values ◽  
The Welfare State

This article discusses value discourses among Muslims in Norway in the light of political frameworks and public debates. It particularly analyses Norwegian Muslims’ relation to values associated with the welfare state and gender equality, and the role of interreligious dialogue in Norwegian society. Among the findings are, that while generational changes contribute to some young Norwegian Muslims’ identification with institutionalized Norwegian values and practices related to dialogue and gender, others choose to identify with strongly conservative values, not least concerning gender; and others again, although very few, identify with Islamic political extremism.

The Second Marriage of Justice and Efficiency

1990 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippe van Parijs
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Postwar Period ◽  
Basic Income ◽  
Ex Ante ◽  
Major Reform ◽  
Positive Effect ◽  
The Welfare State

ABSTRACTNo major reform of the welfare state has a chance of going through unless one can make a plausible case as to both its ‘ethical value’ and its ‘economic.value’, that is, that it would have a positive effect in terms of both justice and efficiency. In this essay, this rough conjecture is first presented, and its plausibility probed, on the background of some stylised facts about the rise of modern welfare states in the postwar period. Next, the focus is shifted to the current debate on the introduction of a basic income, a completely unconditional grant paid ex ante to all citizens. It is argued that if basic income is to have a chance of meeting the strong twofold condition stipulated in the conjecture, some major changes are required in the way one usually thinks about justice and efficiency in connection with social policy. But once these changes are made, as they arguably must be, the chance that basic income may be able to meet the challenge is greatly enhanced.

scholarly journals Economic Globalization and the Welfare State in Affluent Democracies, 1975–2001

2005 ◽  
Vol 70 (6) ◽  
pp. 921-948 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Brady ◽  
Jason Beckfield ◽  
Martin Seeleib-Kaiser
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Economic Globalization ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Welfare Regimes ◽  
State Expansion ◽  
State Variation ◽  
State Models ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Previous Scholarship ◽  
The Welfare State

Previous scholarship is sharply divided over how or if globalization influences welfare states. The effects of globalization may be positive causing expansion, negative triggering crisis and reduction, curvilinear contributing to convergence, or insignificant. We bring new evidence to bear on this debate with an analysis of three welfare state measures and a comprehensive array of economic globalization indicators for 17 affluent democracies from 1975 to 2001. The analysis suggests several conclusions. First, state-of-the-art welfare state models warrant revision in the globalization era. Second, most indicators of economic globalization do not have significant effects, but a few affect the welfare state and improve models of welfare state variation. Third, the few significant globalization effects are in differing directions and often inconsistent with extant theories. Fourth, the globalization effects are far smaller than the effects of domestic political and economic factors. Fifth, the effects of globalization are not systematically different between European and non-European countries, or liberal and non-liberal welfare regimes. Increased globalization and a modest convergence of the welfare state have occurred, but globalization does not clearly cause welfare state expansion, crisis, and reduction or convergence. Ultimately, this study suggests skepticism toward bold claims about globalization's effect on the welfare state.

scholarly journals Social innovation as a policy response to restructure the welfare state

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 269-276
Author(s):  
Doğa Başar Sariipek ◽  
Gökçe Cerev ◽  
Bora Yenihan
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Social Innovation ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
The State ◽  
Welfare Provision ◽  
Civil Society Organisations ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
Social Risks ◽  
The Welfare State

The focus of this paper is the interaction between social innovation and restructuring welfare state. Modern welfare states have been reconfiguring their welfare mixes through social innovation. This includes a productive integration of formal and informal actors with support and leading role of the state. This collaboration becomes significantly important since it means the integration of not only the actors, but also their capabilities and resources in today’s world where new social risks and new social challenges have emerged and no actor can overcome these by its own. Therefore, social innovation is a useful tool in the new role sharing within the welfare mix in order to reach higher levels of satisfaction and success in welfare provision. The main point here is that this is not a zero-sum competition; gaining more power of the actors other than the state – the market, civil society organisations and the family – does not necessarily mean that the state lost its leading role and power. This is rather a new type of cooperation among actors and their capabilities as well as their resources in welfare provision. In this sense, social innovation may contribute well to the debates over the financial crisis of the welfare state since it may lead to the more wisely use of existing resources of welfare actors. Thanks to social innovative programs, not only the NGOs, but also market forces as well as citizens are more active to access welfare provisions and social protection in the broadest sense. Thus, social innovative strategies are definitely a solid step taken towards “enabling” or “active” welfare state.

Ethics

2021 ◽  
pp. 22-38
Author(s):  
Stuart White
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Basic Needs ◽  
Political Context ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
The Core ◽  
National Welfare ◽  
Normative Issues ◽  
The Welfare State

This chapter seeks to clarify some of the core ethical arguments surrounding welfare states. The analysis focuses on three key values. First, we will consider the concept of need. What are basic needs? How do we conceptualize and measure them? Do citizens have rights to what they need? Second, we focus on principles of equality and, third, we look at arguments surrounding the implications of the welfare state for liberty. A final section concludes by noting some normative issues moving increasingly to the forefront of debate. A changing global political context raises new issues about the international salience of these issues, questions which national welfare states have found it difficult to address.

Models of the Welfare State

2021 ◽  
pp. 786-802
Author(s):  
Philip Manow
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Short Discussion ◽  
The West ◽  
Welfare Capitalism ◽  
European Model ◽  
The Past ◽  
State Research ◽  
The Welfare State

IN 1990, Gøsta Esping-Andersen published The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, a work which has turned out to be the single most important and decisive contribution to welfare state research in the past thirty to forty years. In essence, Esping-Andersen argued that we can observe systematic variation in the character of the developed welfare states of the West, which he grouped into three distinct welfare state models: a Scandinavian social democratic model, a conservative continental European model, and a liberal Anglo-Saxon model. This chapter provides a short description of Esping-Andersen’s three regimes; introduces a fourth, Southern European model, which will then be described in somewhat more detail; and outlines a historical and genealogical account of the development of all four models. Finally, the chapter briefly expands on the comparative perspective with a short discussion on whether the regime concept or the understanding of distinct welfare models can also be applied to other regions, such as Latin America and Asia.

Global Equality and Open Borders

2020 ◽  
pp. 118-150
Author(s):  
Nils Holtug
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Brain Drain ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
The Other ◽  
Immigration Policies ◽  
Global Inequality ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Open Borders ◽  
Egalitarian Justice ◽  
The Welfare State

Egalitarians disagree about the extent to which states should have open borders. Sometimes, this disagreement is due to a deeper disagreement about the scope of egalitarian justice. Egalitarians holding that equality has domestic scope only may be inclined to favor restrictive immigration policies to protect the welfare state. Egalitarians holding that equality has global scope, on the other hand, may be inclined to support more open borders in order to reduce global inequality. This chapter argues that equality has global scope and then considers the implications of global egalitarianism for the issue of open borders. Furthermore, the chapter provides an argument for why (more) open borders can be expected reduce global inequality. Then some objections to this argument are considered, based on brain drain, threats to welfare states, and in-group bias. Finally, the chapter considers the suggestion that (more) open borders is not the best (or most efficient) way of reducing global inequality.

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