Abstract

Family  policies  within  the  OECD  world  have  undergone  significant  transformations.  While  family allowances, parental leave,  and  child care continue  to vary significantly from  country to country,  policy change  has  followed  a common  trajectory  moving  away  from  support for  the  male  breadwinner  and towards  the  dual-earner  household and  to  reconcile tensions  between  work and  family. The  article  will identify  early  adopters  and  laggards  of policy  change  among  OECD  countries  as  well as the  ‘drivers’ leading  to change.  It  will  be  shown  that  the  early  adopters  in Scandinavia  were  largely  driven  by the normative  aim  for  gender  equality,  while  in  laggard  countries  more  instrumental  reasoning,  such  as improving  the  use  of  human  capital  through  increased  female  employment  or  addressing  demographic challenges,  was  employed.  Methodologically,  the  chapter  will  be  based  on  an  analysis  of  secondary literature as well as various datasets. 

-reprinted from Research Gate