scholarly journals Is it “Good” to Have a Stay-at-Home Mom? Parental Childcare Time and Work–Family Arrangements in Italy, 1988–2014

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulia M Dotti Sani
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Division Of Labor ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Highly Educated ◽  
The Past ◽  
Dual Earner ◽  
Male Breadwinner ◽  
Childcare Time ◽  
Work Family ◽  
At Home

Abstract This article investigates whether there are childcare penalties and premiums at the intersection of gender, work–family arrangements, and education among parents in Italy, a country with a familistic welfare state and a traditional division of labor within couples. The results indicate that children in male breadwinner households are not exposed to more childcare time than those living in a dual-earner arrangement, except when both parents are highly educated, in which case a childcare premium emerges. The implications for social inequalities are discussed in light of the societal transformations that have occurred in the country over the past few decades.

Germany

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina A. Adler ◽  
Karl Lenz ◽  
Yve Stöbel-Richter
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Father Involvement ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Family Policies ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Culture Of Care ◽  
Dual Earner ◽  
Male Breadwinner ◽  
National Comparison ◽  
Workplace Cultures

This chapter describes the context of current German family policies with special emphasis on regional differences since unification in 1990. West Germany’s legacy of the strong male breadwinner system and maternalism continues to support a different gendered ‘culture of care’ than that in the East, where the socialist dual earner system has left its mark. The classic Western conservative welfare state recently has incorporated some social-democratic policy features. Both regions now have the same increasingly father-friendly family policies and there is a common public discourse on the desirability of ‘active fatherhood’. However, while data on father involvement with young children reflect somewhat more engagement in the Eastern states and a generally high number of “weekend fathers,” in cross-national comparison Germany boasts relatively low levels of father involvement. This may be due to remaining maternalist traditions and slowly changing workplace cultures.

scholarly journals Same but different: Polish and Norwegian parents’ work–family adaptations in Norway

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 292-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margunn Bjørnholt ◽  
Kari Stefansen
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Work Family Conflict ◽  
Family Policies ◽  
Individual Agency ◽  
Cultural Ideal ◽  
Everyday Practices ◽  
Dual Earner ◽  
Enabling Structures ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Work Family

This article explores how families with young children arrive at and live with different work–family adaptations within a welfare state that strongly supports the dual earner/dual carer model – that of Norway. It draws on a qualitative study among Norwegian-born and Polish-born parents, representing, respectively, ‘insider’ and ‘outsider’ views on this model. The analysis aims at capturing the dynamic interplay between structures and policies, and everyday practices. We found that both Norwegian and Polish parents embraced the cultural ideal of the dual earner/dual carer model, but that their perceived scope of action differed. Within the Norwegian group, there were differences related to class, however. Among middle-class Norwegian parents, the model was internalized as a moral obligation and part of identity, making it difficult to voice and cope with work–family conflict. Working-class parents in this group varied more in their identification with this model. Across class, Polish parents, in contrast, used welfare state entitlements eclectically to shape new and more gender equal family practices in Norway and to adjust to changing circumstances. The article illustrates how enabling structures may represent both opportunities for and limitation to individual agency, undermining the assumption of a simple ‘fit’ between work–family policies, work–family adaptations and gender equality in the family.

scholarly journals ‘I volunteer at home too!’ Gendering affective citizenship

2021 ◽  
pp. 0308275X2097409
Author(s):  
Milena Marchesi
Keyword(s):  
Social Security ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Social Citizenship ◽  
Male Breadwinner ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Women Volunteers ◽  
Italian Origin ◽  
The Welfare State ◽  
At Home

This article argues for gendering affective citizenship and humanitarianism. Both of these ‘regimes of care’ are understood to work through benevolent affect, to mobilize citizens in the wake of the retrenchment of the welfare state. Ethnography with Italian-origin women volunteers at a Milanese association shows that the affect and motivations of affective citizens can starkly deviate from benevolence and ‘do-gooderism’. Analyses of post-Fordist affective citizenship focus on the shift from waged labour and state-mediated forms of social security to precarious labour and privatized responsibilities for welfare, implicitly centring the (male) breadwinner as the subject of these transformations. By contrast, this article seeks to call attention to the continuities in unwaged care. In so doing, it shows how the Fordist legacy of gendered citizenship ‘haunts’ its post-Fordist affective and humanitarian reconfigurations and highlights the contradictions and contestations that mark ongoing transformations of social citizenship in Europe.

Work-Family Conflict: Crossover in Dual-Earner Couples

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heidi M. Baumann ◽  
David L. Taylor ◽  
Kelly S. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Family Conflict ◽  
Work Family Conflict ◽  
Dual Earner ◽  
Work Family

Relations between child self-control, maternal relational frustration, and teacher–child conflict: a longitudinal study with children from dual-earner families

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Tiago Ferreira ◽  
Joana Cadima ◽  
Marisa Matias ◽  
Teresa Leal ◽  
Paula Mena Matos
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Family Conflict ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Work Family Conflict ◽  
Reciprocal Relations ◽  
Panel Model ◽  
Dual Earner ◽  
Work Family ◽  
Over Time

Abstract This longitudinal study follows children from dual-earner families in 4 time-points, covering the early childhood period. We examined the influence of work–family conflict (WFC) on maternal relational frustration (RF) towards the child, and investigated the reciprocal relations among maternal RF, children's self-control (SC), and teacher–child (TC) conflict over time. Participants were 214 children (97 girls; M age = 4.00 years), their mothers, and teachers. Mothers reported their own WFC and RF, whereas teachers reported child SC and T-C conflict. Results from a cross-lagged panel model indicated the experience of WFC positively predicted maternal RF. Maternal RF and T-C conflict were negatively related to the child later SC abilities. Conversely, children who displayed SC difficulties were more likely to experience later maternal RF and T-C conflict. There was evidence supporting the bidirectional effects of child SC and T-C conflict across time. Moreover, maternal RF and T-C conflict were indirectly linked, via child SC. The findings are consistent with a transactional view of development, stressing the importance of contextual factors to the quality of caregiving relationships and highlighting the complex and reciprocal relations between child regulatory competence and the quality of relationships with distinct caregivers.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document