How Welfare States Care
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HOW WELFARE STATES CARE CULTURE, GENDER AND CITIZENSHIP IN EUROPE Monique Kremer HOW WELFARE STATES CARE CULTURE, GENDER AND CITIZENSHIP IN EUROPE (MET EEN SAMENVATTING IN HET NEDERLANDS) Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit Utrecht op gezag van de Rector Magnificus, Prof. dr. W.H. Gispen, ingevolge het besluit van het College voor Promoties in het openbaar te verdedigen op woensdag 16 november 2005, des ochtends te 10.30 uur door Monique Kremer geboren op 18 september 1969 te Zwolle Promotoren: Prof. dr. G.C.M. Knijn, Faculteit Sociale Wetenschappen, Universiteit Utrecht Prof. dr. P.A.H. van Lieshout, Faculteit Sociale Wetenschappen, Universiteit Utrecht 4 CONTENT Tables ...................................................................................................................................................... 5 Chapter 1 Introduction: working women and the question of care and culture in Europe.............. 7 The caring dimension of welfare states............................................................................................... 8 The cultural dimension of welfare states........................................................................................... 10 The empirical study........................................................................................................................... 12 Outline of the book............................................................................................................................ 14 PART I THEORIES OF CARE, WORK AND WELFARE STATES...................................................... 17 Chapter 2 Cinderella and snowwhite are fairytales: linking care and citizenship ........................ 19 What is care? ..................................................................................................................................... 19 Rethinking independence and participation ...................................................................................... 23 Caring rights and duties: how welfare states care ............................................................................. 29 Conclusion: including care in citizenship.......................................................................................... 32 Chapter 3 Policy or culture? Women’s employment differences in Europe................................... 35 Welfare states matter most: the state as a catalyst............................................................................. 35 It’s a man’s world: care and gender models...................................................................................... 40 Origins of welfare states.................................................................................................................... 43 Homo economicus in welfare states.................................................................................................. 46 Culture matters more: the modest role of the state............................................................................ 48 It is a woman’s choice: work-life preferences................................................................................... 51 The dialogue between theory and evidence: comparative strategies used ........................................ 55 PART II HOW WELFARE STATES CARE.................................................................................... 59 Chapter 4 Citizenship in practice: work, care and income............................................................ 61 Change and diversity in gendered employment rates........................................................................ 62 The meaning of part-time work......................................................................................................... 67 When women become mothers ......................................................................................................... 71 When men become fathers ................................................................................................................ 75 1 Money of her own: gender and income............................................................................................. 77 Conclusion: cross-national differences in work, care and income .................................................... 80 Chapter 5 Fiscal care: taxation and compensations for care ........................................................ 83 Three dimensions of taxation ............................................................................................................ 83 Denmark: the insignificance of the male breadwinner bonus ........................................................... 86 Belgium: free choice in work and care.............................................................................................. 88 The United Kingdom: tax incentives for working women................................................................ 90 The Netherlands: from penalising double earners to the right to give care?..................................... 93 Conclusion: does taxation affect women?......................................................................................... 96 Chapter 6 Rights to care, duties to work: changes in social security ............................................ 99 Rights and duties: the analytical framework ................................................................................... 100 The right to give care: access to unemployment insurance............................................................. 101 Low benefits, the male breadwinner bonus and the effects on women’s work............................... 109 British duties: either a worker or a carer ......................................................................................... 112 The Netherlands: farewell to the (full-time) citizen-carer............................................................... 115 Belgium: the right to care and to work............................................................................................ 118 Denmark: the right and duty to work .............................................................................................. 121 Conclusion: social security and citizenship..................................................................................... 124 Chapter 7 For women only? The right to care leave ................................................................... 127 The right to parental leave............................................................................................................... 129 Politics and the design of leave schemes......................................................................................... 133 The gendered consequences of leave or how to seduce men .......................................................... 138 Conclusion: lessons from leave....................................................................................................... 144 Chapter 8 The state of childcare services .................................................................................... 145 The right to childcare: Denmark ..................................................................................................... 146 Flanders: from necessary evil to approved politics ......................................................................... 150 The Netherlands: taking a jump ...................................................................................................... 156 England: a lethargic laggard finally on the move............................................................................ 160 Conclusion: the origins and outcomes of childcare policy.............................................................. 165 2 PART III IDEALS OF CARE ....................................................................................................... 169 Chapter 9 When mothers go to work: ideals of care in policy ..................................................... 171 What are ideals of care? .................................................................................................................. 173 Ideals of care in politics................................................................................................................... 176 Denmark: the ideal professional care .............................................................................................. 178 Flanders: the ideal of surrogate mothers and intergenerational care ............................................... 184 The Netherlands: the ideal of parental sharing................................................................................ 189 The United Kingdom: from surrogate mother to professional care................................................. 196 Conclusion: ideals of care after the full-time motherhood norm..................................................... 200 Chapter 10 How welfare states work: ideals of care in practice ................................................... 203 The moral predicament of work and care........................................................................................ 204 Caring practices: consequence of policy or preference? ................................................................. 208 Ideals of care and citizenship .......................................................................................................... 217 Conclusion: the moral impact of welfare states .............................................................................