Abstract
This article analyzes eligibility for parental-leave benefits in twenty-one European countries. It distinguishes four ideal-type approaches to how leave-related benefits are granted ...(in-)dependent of parents’ labor market position: universal parenthood model, selective parenthood model, universal adult-worker model, and selective adult-worker model. An eligibility index is created to measure the inclusiveness of parental-leave benefits, alongside the degree of (de-)gendered entitlements. The importance of employment-based benefits and gender-sensitive policies increased between 2006 and 2017. Eligibility criteria remained stable, but due to labor market trends, such as increasing precariousness, fewer parents may fulfill the conditions for employment-based benefits.
This article explores the (in)equality dynamic of childcare-related policy reforms in post-Yugoslav countries to expose ‘silent’ cleavages embedded in parenting leaves and early childhood education ...and care policies design that may challenge or reinforce parental (in)equalities in employment and care opportunities. It is guided by the principles and (sub-)questions of intersectionality-based policy analysis to determine who benefits and/or is excluded from the policy goals and allocation of childcare-related resources. All former Yugoslav republics initially relied on gendered and selective childcare-related policy design, empowering only a fraction of working mothers. In the last three decades only Slovenia equalized the potential of childcare-related policy allowing various parents to more easily engage in care and employment. The other post-Yugoslav countries that were more exposed to the post-1990 societal re-traditionalization and cost-containment measures mostly exacerbated the existing or created new layers of inequalities and (dis)advantages intersecting along gender, class, ethnical and spatial lines. While enacting more socially inclusive leaves, they also amplified the systematic exclusion of some parents from access to childcare-related rights and the opportunity to work and care. Parents, particularly mothers in precarious employment, ethnic minorities and ‘new’ migrants, as well as those living in less developed areas, were the most affected by the (absence of) reforms.
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From mid-March 2020, childcare services and schools were closed around the globe in the fight of the COVID-19 pandemic. This situation, unprecedented in the history of modern welfare states, brought ...striking cross-country differences in pandemic childcare-policy responses. They varied particularly in the re-opening phase - both in being more lenient or strict, and in being universal or selective. This article presents a conceptual framework that allows to unpack and classify variations in the design of immediate childcare-policy responses to COVID-19, which became (primarily) driven by public-health-related goals and therefore transverse existing conceptualisations. We argue that specific responses are resulting from a country-specific combination of pandemic prevention strategy (either focused on high-risk groups or the whole population), and childcare-related policy concerns (e.g. educational goals, or work-family reconciliation). The distinct childcare-policy responses are then developed, and empirically illustrated on the basis of data collected for 28 European countries. This provides a basis for future research into the cross-country variation of responses, as well as gender and social consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Access is to well-paid parentsleave and affordable and quality early childhood and early childhood education (R & D) services in the early parenting phase, in order to create the preconditions for ...equal parental participation in labor market and care and enable equals opportunities for every child. In spite of, many parents and children do not have (adequate) access to these measures. Moreover, with gender inequalities in care and employment, studies growing indicate the so-called. the effect of St. Matthew (Matthew effect) in the use of parental leave and services of the RPOO, ie how disadvantaged familiesbenefit less from paid parental leave and RPOO services (Ghysels and van Lancker, 2011; Pavolini and van Lancker,2018; McKay et al., 2016)576 / 5.000 Rezultati prijevoda Such an outcome is primarily related to the design of parental leave policies and the RPOO system, as indicated by the analysis presented here within the InCARE project. The analysis highlights the multidimensional character and complexity of the system of parental leave and RPOO in post-Yugoslav countries. care and employment (more details in Dobrotić, 2019, 2021).
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This thematic issue aims to deepen the theoretical as well as empirical knowledge on the inclusiveness of social rights, focussing on the revelatory case of parenting‐related leave policies. This ...editorial defines (leave) inclusiveness and discusses extant research on varying entitlements and eligibility criteria in the field of parenting leaves. It summarises the conceptual, methodological, and empirical contributions made by the articles in the thematic issue and closes with a research outlook.
PurposeThis article explores the patterns and dynamics of parenting-related leave policy reforms in the European former socialist countries (EFSCs). It sheds light on the development pattern of their ...leave policies and their potential to reproduce, impede, or transform traditional gender norms in employment and care.Design/methodology/approachThe article provides a historical comparative analysis of leave policy developments in 21 EFSCs in the 1970–2018 period. It systematically explores continuity and changes in leave policy design − generosity (leave duration and benefits level) and fathers' entitlements to leaves − as well as policy concerns and gender-equality-related implications.FindingsFollowing the state-socialist commitment to gender equality, the EFSCs introduced childcare/parental leaves early. Nevertheless, they developed mother-centered leaves of equality-impeding character, in that they did not promote gender equality. The divergence of EFSCs' leave policies intensified in the period of transition from socialism to capitalism, as competing priorities and inter-related policy concerns – such as re-traditionalization, fertility incentives, gender equality, and labor market participation – influenced policy design. Leave policies of the EFSCs that joined the EU gradually transformed towards more gender-equal ones. Nonetheless, the progress has been slow, and only three countries can be classified as having equality-transforming leaves (Slovenia, Lithuania, and Romania).Originality/valueThis article extends existent comparative studies on maternity/paternity/parental leaves, exploring the region that has been overlooked by such research. It provides valuable insights into the implications of intersectional dimensions of leave design as well as competing priorities and concerns embedded in it. It points to the methodological complexity of evaluating the development of parental leave policies in a cross-country perspective.
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The paper analyses and considers the character and consequences of reforms in the eldercare system in Croatia, putting reforms in comparative perspective and taking into account the existing ...knowledge on the effects of similar reforms in European countries. The analysis begins with the period of socialism when the eldercare policy started to develop and continues through the 1990s marked by pluralization of service providers and the beginnings of decentralization, and the period of the 2000s until today marked by growing fragmentation of the system and the professionalization of non-institutional forms of care. The social risk of dependence in older age does not have the necessary attention of policymakers. Reforms of the past twenty years aimed at cost-containment in the eldercare system and the reduced role of the state, and were reflected in marketization, individualisation and professionalization of care. The eldercare system failed to cope with the growing demand for services and remains of residual character, fragmented and characterized by social assistance orientation. Future reforms will have to seriously address the sustainability of the eldercare system, in particular sustainable solutions of financing long-term care.
We are observing certain improvements whether the main indicators are the inclusion of children preschool programs in most of the territory of the Republic of Croatia. But regional the differences ...are still pronounced, especially in the nursery segment, and the comparative one is also worrying picture, that is, the general level, and which requires further investments, that is, indicates the need to permanently establish a more active role states in the area of RPOO.
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