Converting shared parental leave into shared parenting: the role of employers and use of litigation by employees in the UK

2019 ◽  
pp. 61-82
Author(s):  
Jana Javornik ◽  
Liz Oliver
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
Legal Rights ◽  
Major Step ◽  
Shared Parenting ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
The Uk

The UK government introduced Shared Parental Leave (SPL) in 2014 to expand parents' capabilities to share parenting, by affording fathers similar entitlements to post-birth leave as mothers. Policy sought to simultaneously address other sources of gender inequality to expand parents' capability sets to remain in work after childbirth and to share parenting differently. This social policy development represents a major step forward in addressing gender inequality at home and at work. However, the policy has not produced the desired change in fathers' leave uptake and the implementation has exposed several issues. This chapter argues that legal rights are one possible instrument for reaching that goal andincludes a wider legal and labour market landscape as a potentially relevant source of inequalities. Using the capability approach, it examines how the SPL shapes fathers' capability set to co-parent and how the broader regime of employment and anti-discrimination law addresses gender equality in home and at work. The chapter offers a more comprehensive explanation for the failure of SPL to enhance parents' capability to share parenting in ways they as a couple have reason to value, as well as an example of how to incorporate a multi-level interdisciplinary analysis of legal rights into social policy analysis through a capability lens.

Devolution, Social Policy and Education: Some Observations from Northern Ireland

2005 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caitlin Donnelly ◽  
Robert D. Osborne
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Belfast Agreement ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Recent Policy

Many commentaries on social policy in the UK assume that policy as developed in England applies to the constituent countries of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. However, the advent of political devolution in the last five years is slowly being reflected in the literature. This paper takes education policy in Northern Ireland and discusses recent policy developments in the light of the 1998 Belfast Agreement. The Agreement, it is suggested, is providing a framework which promotes equality, human rights and inclusion in policy making. Some early indications of this are discussed and some of the resultant policy dilemmas are assessed. The paper concludes that accounts of policy development in the UK, which ignore the multi-level policy-making contexts created by devolution, do a disservice to the subject.

Thinking about Religious Welfare and Rethinking Social Policy in the British Context

2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 613-624 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rana Jawad
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Welfare Provision ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Role Of Religion ◽  
Ways Of Being

The role of religion in social welfare provision, and more broadly in shaping the development of state social policy in the UK, has become an issue of increasing prominence in the last decade raising both new challenges and opportunities. This article brings together new and existing research in the field of religion and social action/welfare in the British context to present a preliminary discussion of how and why religion, as a source of social identity and moral values, matters for social policy. The key argument is that religious welfare provision goes beyond the mixed economy of welfare paradigm and has the capacity to challenge the Utilitarian underpinnings of mainstream social policy thinking by giving more relative importance to ethical issues such as self-knowledge and morality, in addition to the more conventional concepts of wellbeing or happiness. The article proposes the concept of ways of being in order to bring together these moral ideational factors that underpin social welfare.

Establishing a national standard: the role of the UK’s Minimum Income Standard in policy and practice

2020 ◽  
pp. 307-318
Author(s):  
Donald Hirsch
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Strong Influence ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
National Standard ◽  
Political Commitment ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Minimum Income ◽  
Policy Debates ◽  
The Uk

This chapter promotes the UK Minimum Income Standards (MIS) as a benchmark in social policy and practice. It explains how the MIS research continues to have a strong influence over social policy debates in Britain and exposes the inadequacy of the national minimum wage that helped fuel the campaign for a “living wage.” It also features MIS as a key element in the new Scottish measure of fuel poverty. The chapter observes how MIS has not been taken up by governments as a standard for setting or targeting minimum incomes in terms of social protection. It observes that it will require a major political commitment to redistribution if the British government were to adopt MIS.

Assembling and deconstructing radicalisation in PREVENT: A case of policy-based evidence making?

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 180-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabe Mythen ◽  
Sandra Walklate ◽  
Elizabeth-Jane Peatfield
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Religious Ideology ◽  
Important Material ◽  
Violent Extremism ◽  
Terrorist Groups ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Way

In the last 15 years the concept of radicalisation has come to prominence as a means of explaining the process by which individuals become attracted to extremist ideology and endorse the actions of terrorist groups. Post 9/11, radicalisation has gained traction in policy, political and media circles in Britain, being commonly connected to the threat of ‘home-grown’ terrorism. In this article, we critique the understanding of radicalisation outlined in the UK Government’s PREVENT strategy. We focus specifically on how particular understandings of radicalisation are constructed, evidenced and operationalised in PREVENT and the way in which these understandings align with party political worldviews. It is posited that an unremitting focus on the role of religious ideology in the process of radicalisation within PREVENT mutes recognition of otherwise important material grievances expressed by individuals involved in violent extremism. At a broader level, our analysis adds to growing concerns around the deleterious impacts of the securitisation of social policy.

scholarly journals Gender inequality

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 25-37
Author(s):  
Natalia Kostiuk ◽  
Olena Antoniuk
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Gender Discrimination ◽  
Gender Segregation ◽  
Legal Rights ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Ukrainian Society

The article deals with gender inequality in the economic, political and social spheres of Ukraine and the key reasons for gender imbalance in the observation and realization of gender rights. The topicality of the article is predetermined by the necessity of the systemic solution to the problem of gender equality in Ukraine that is declared in the country’s constitution as the pivotal principle of safeguarding legal rights and freedoms of people in a democratic state.The authors have made an analysis of the Ukrainian norms and laws in force as well as some ratified international treaties in the sphere of gender equality insurance. The current state of realization of the main directions of social policy of Ukraine in the sphere of gender equality has been determined on the basis of the World Economic Forum and in particular the analysis of the index of gender discrepancy in certain spheres of human activity as well as the gender monitoring of the representation of candidates in the special election of people’s deputies of Ukraine in 2014 and 2019. The impact of gender discrimination against women on the social economic development of the world countries and their national wealth level has been considered.The study has allowed revealing a positive tendency in the realization of women’s right to participate and be represented in the economic and political spheres of Ukrainian activity and offering further necessary state measures in the social policy pertaining to the eradication of gender asymmetry in the Ukrainian society. The need of redirecting the government gender policy to more effective measures for overcoming gender inequality, gender segregation and multiple forms of discrimination against women under the conditions of the severe economic, political and social upheavals in Ukraine has been pointed to. The authors have come to the conclusion that the development of the political and juridical concept of eradication of gender discrimination against women in Ukraine is the pledge of sustainable development of the Ukrainian society which in its turn is a necessary condition for forming a competitive human capital of the country that has chosen the Eurointergation foreign policy course.

scholarly journals Putting the Voluntary Sector in its Place: Geographical Perspectives on Voluntary Activity and Social Welfare in Glasgow

2004 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHRISTINE MILLIGAN ◽  
NICHOLAS R. FYFE
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Voluntary Sector ◽  
Uneven Development ◽  
Social Significance ◽  
Voluntary Activity ◽  
Access Service ◽  
Changing Role ◽  
The City

The growing political and social significance of the voluntary sector in contemporary welfare reform is reflected in a wide body of research that has emerged in the political and social policy literature since the mid-1980s. While this work adds considerably to our understanding of the changing role of the voluntary welfare sector, these accounts are largely aspatial. Yet, geographical perspectives offer important insights into the development of the voluntary sector at both micro-and macro-levels. The purpose of this paper is thus twofold: first we wish to draw attention to what it is that geographers do that may be of interest to those working in the field of social policy; and second, we illustrate why such perspectives are important. Drawing on recently completed work in Glasgow, we demonstrate how geographical approaches can contribute to a greater understanding of the uneven development of the voluntary sector across space and how voluntary organisations become embedded in particular places. By unravelling some of the complex webs of inter-relationships that operate across the geographical and political spaces that extend from national to local we reveal some unique insights into those factors that act to facilitate or constrain the development of voluntary activity across the city with implications for access, service delivery and policy development. Hence, we maintain, that geographical approaches to voluntarism are important for social policy as such approaches argue that where events occur matter to both their form and outcome.

Women Managers’ Impact on Use of Family-friendly Measures among Their Subordinates in Japanese Firms

2021 ◽  
pp. 095001702098740
Author(s):  
Makiko Fuwa
Keyword(s):  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Women Managers ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
Change Agents ◽  
Female Managers ◽  
Japanese Firms ◽  
Family Friendly ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Impact

Using data from the Survey on Support for Work–Life Balance conducted in Japan, this study investigates the role of female managers in enhancing their male and female subordinates’ access to family-friendly measures in the workplace. Research on organisational gender inequality has proposed two contrasting perspectives regarding the impact of female managers on gender inequality, describing female managers as either ‘change agents’ or ‘cogs in the machine’. However, previous research has rarely investigated whether female managers address men’s limited access to family-friendly measures, which is often the hidden side of the coin of gender imbalance in male-dominated organisations. Results indicate that female managers were more likely to have subordinates who take parental leave and to exhibit stronger support for male subordinates’ family-related requests than male managers, although, like male managers, they reported feeling that managing their sections during these absences is a challenge. The implications of the findings are discussed.

18. The Role of a Backbench MP

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Shephard ◽  
Jack Simson Caird
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
House Of Commons ◽  
Members Of Parliament ◽  
Legislative Branch ◽  
Parliamentary Systems ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Uk

This chapter considers the nature and roles of backbench Members of Parliament (MPs) as well as their impact and influence, placing emphasis on the Backbench Business Committee. The term ‘backbench’ refers to where the MPs or peers sit in the House of Commons — behind those with either ministerial frontbench or shadow ministerial frontbench positions. The definition of a backbencher holds in many other parliamentary systems where the executive is drawn from the legislative branch (for example, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia). However, emphasis on the role of backbenchers might vary depending on the parliamentary system. The chapter discusses the role of backbenchers in the UK Parliament, such as supporting their party; scrutinizing government; representing and furthering the interests of their constituency and constituents; contributing to policy development; and promotion of public understanding.

scholarly journals The Business-Social Policy Nexus: Corporate Power and Corporate Inputs into Social Policy

2006 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 473-494 ◽  
Author(s):  
KEVIN FARNSWORTH ◽  
CHRIS HOLDEN
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Fiscal Policies ◽  
Corporate Power ◽  
National Competitiveness ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Business Influence ◽  
The Welfare State

It is increasingly impossible to understand and explain the shape and delivery of contemporary social policy unless we consider the role of business. Several factors have been at work here. First, many of the changes in social policy introduced since the 1970s have been in response either to business demands or more general concerns about national competitiveness and the needs of business. Second, globalisation has increased corporate power within states, leading to transformations in social and fiscal policies. Third, business has been incorporated into the management of many areas of the welfare state by governments keen to control expenditure and introduce private sector values into services. Fourth, welfare services, from hospitals to schools, have been increasingly opened up to private markets. Despite all this, the issues of business influence and involvement in social policy has been neglected in the literature. This article seeks to place corporate power and influence centre-stage by outlining and critically reflecting on the place of business within contemporary welfare states, with a particular focus on the UK. Business, it argues, is increasingly important to welfare outcomes and needs to be taken into account more fully within the social policy literature.

scholarly journals Modern Monetary Theory and the Changing Role of Tax in Society

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 454-469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Baker ◽  
Richard Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
New Deal ◽  
Government Spending ◽  
Wealth Inequality ◽  
Tax Revenue ◽  
Monetary Theory ◽  
Funding Mechanism ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Changing Role

Tax is traditionally viewed as the main funding mechanism for government spending. Consequently, social policy is often seen as something determined and constrained by tax revenue. Modern Monetary Theory (‘MMT’) presents a reversal of the tax-spend cycle, by identifying a spend-tax cycle. Using the UK as an example, we highlight that one of MMT’s most important, but under-explored, contributions is its potential to re-frame the role of tax from both a macroeconomic and social policy perspective. We use insights on the money removal, or cancellation function of taxes, derived from MMT, to demonstrate how this also creates possibilities for using tax to achieve social objectives such as mitigating income and wealth inequality, increasing access to housing, or funding a Green New Deal. For social policy researchers the challenge arising is to use these insights to re-engineer tax systems and redesign social tax expenditures (STEs) for creative social policy purposes.

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