Gendered Welfare Regimes, Work–Family Patterns and Women’s Employment

Abstract

The ways family members combine paid and unpaid work—work–family patterns—have evolved throughout history, in parallel with changes in gender relations and gender equality. However, cross-country variations in work–family patterns are still marked. This chapter analyses the evolution of employment patterns within the family after the Second World War from a gendered welfare regime perspective. Belonging to a given gendered welfare regime type has, in general, a strong explanative power in accounting for the design of work–family arrangements. Nevertheless, some countries are departing from what is expected, giving a more nuanced picture of the idea of a typical linear historical evolution, common to all industrialised countries, from a ‘male breadwinner family’ to a ‘dual full-time earner family’.