Gender Equality Revisited - Changes in Nordic Childcare Policies in the 2000s

The Nordic childcare policy model is often reviewed and even recommended internationally for its contribution to gender equality, high female labour force participation and, perhaps more indirectly, to a high fertility rate. Nordic childcare services and parental leave schemes have thus been portray...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social policy & administration 2011-04, Vol.45 (2), p.161-179
Main Authors: Eydal, Guðný Björk, Rostgaard, Tine
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Caregivers
Caring
Child care
Child Care Services
Childcare
Children
Education, Adult
Equality
Fatherhood
Females
Fertility
Gender
Labor Force Participation
Labour market participation
Nordic
Nordic countries
Parental leave
Parents
Policies
Policy making
Scandinavia
Services
Sex
Sex differences
Sex equality
Sexual Inequality
Social policy
Values
Welfare State
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Summary:The Nordic childcare policy model is often reviewed and even recommended internationally for its contribution to gender equality, high female labour force participation and, perhaps more indirectly, to a high fertility rate. Nordic childcare services and parental leave schemes have thus been portrayed in the literature as policies which have managed to facilitate a work–family model of dual earners and dual carers. However, the recent introduction of cash‐for‐care schemes seems to go against the Nordic dual earner/dual carer model and ideals of gender equality, in supporting parental (maternal) care of the child in the home. At the same time, new upcoming trends of political fatherhood and the perspective of lifelong learning for the child are also changing the Nordic childcare model. This article provides an analysis of how new childcare policy goals have been articulated into policies from the late 1990s to the late 2000s and how these may challenge the traditional goals of the Nordic welfare states.
ISSN:0144-5596
1467-9515
DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9515.2010.00762.x