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Abstract
This paper examines the relevance of two interpretations of defamilisation (“freedom of the family” and “freedom of women from the family”) to the search for effective measures for strengthening women's participation in the paid labour market. Based on these two interpretations, two types of defamilisation measures (care-focused and women's economic) are identified. Two defamilisation indices are developed respectively covering twelve countries. The importance of the two types of defamilisation measures in assisting women to access employment are discussed from two angles. The input angle refers to the extent to which countries are committed to the provision of these defamilisation measures. The output angle is about the relationship between these defamilisation measures and the degree of women's participation in the paid labour market. Through conducting these analytical tasks, this paper also contributes to the examination of the relationship between types of welfare regimes and the provision of defamilisation measures.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the journal reviewers for their insightful comments which have helped to improve the article in many aspects.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes on contributors
Dr Chui Man (Ruby) Chau is a Marie Curie Research Fellow at the University of Sheffield, conducting a study on the social investment perspective in work-family reconciliation measures in Europe and East Asia. Her main research interests are comparative social policy, East Asian welfare regimes, defamilisation and women. Latest publications include: “The Effects of Defamilisation and Familisation Measures on the Accumulation of Retirement Income for Women in the UK”, Women and Aging, forthcoming (with Foster, L. and Yu, S.). Address: Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield, Elmfield Building, Sheffield S10 2TU. Email: [email protected].
Dr Sam W K Yu is an associate professor in the Department of Social Work at the Hong Kong Baptist University. He teaches social work and social policy. His research interests are social exclusion and welfare mix. His recent publications include “The Contributions of the Studies of Health Care Systems to the Examination of the Productivist Welfare Capitalism Thesis”, Journal of Policy Practice and “Studying the Health Care Systems in Seven East Asian Countries by the Cluster Analysis”, Development and Society. Address: Department of Social Work, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong; Email: [email protected].
Dr Liam Foster is a senior lecturer in social policy and social work at the University of Sheffield. His research interests include theories of ageing, pensions and funerals. Dr Foster is a member of the SPA Executive Committee and Managing Editor of Social Policy and Society. He has published over 35 articles, chapters and books. Recent articles include “Active and Successful Ageing: A European Policy Perspective”, Gerontologist, 55(1): 83-90 (with Walker, A.) Address: Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield, Elmfield, Sheffield S10 2TU. Email: [email protected].
Dr Maggie K.W. Lau is a research associate professor in the Asia-Pacific Institute of Ageing Studies at Lingnan University. Her research interests include poverty and social exclusion, as well as child poverty and child well-being. Her recent publications include “Material Well-being, Social Relationships and Children's Overall Life Satisfaction in Hong Kong”, Child Indicators Research (with Bradshaw, J.) and “Including the Views of the Public in a Survey of Poverty and Social Exclusion in Hong Kong”, Social Indicators Research (with Gordon, D, Pantazis, C., Sutton, E. and Lai, L.). Address: Asia-Pacific Institute of Ageing Studies, Lingnan University, Hong Kong. Email: [email protected].
Notes
1 Both our study and Michon's study are concerned with the relationship between female employment and defamilisation/familisation. However, there are four differences between our study and Michon's. Firstly, based on the ideas of Bambra (Citation2004, Citation2007), we see maternity leave benefits as an instrument for promoting women's economic defamilisation rather than care familisation. Secondly, we compare not only European countries but also countries in other continents. Thirdly, we use more up-to-date information for conducting the comparison. Fourthly, in studying female employment, we study the gap between male and female full time employment (the relative female full time employment rate) rather than the employment rate (as a percentage of whole population). As mentioned in the text, the advantage of measuring female employment in relation to male employment is to reduce the influence of different national unemployment rates.
2 Women in the twelve countries have a much higher part time employment rate than their male counterparts. Despite this we focus on women's full time employment rate given that women in full time employment have a greater opportunity to achieve financial autonomy in the family.
3 To further explore the link between the provision of defamilisation measures in the twelve countries and the relative female full time employment rates, we have examined the z-scores for the components of the two types of defamilisation measures and z-scores for the relative female full time employment rates. No significant correlation is found between them. This finding to a certain extent supports our argument that women's participation in the paid labour market can be influenced by a number of factors, and thus the extent to which countries implement defamilisation is not necessarily always negatively associated with relative female full time employment rates.