This book deals with the impact of welfare states on immigrants' social rights, economic well-being and social inclusion, and it offers the first systematic comparison of immigrants' social rights ...across welfare states. To study immigrants' social rights the author develops an analytical framework that focuses on the interplay between 1) the type of welfare state regime, 2) forms of entry, or entry categories, and 3) the incorporation regime regulating the inclusion or exclusion of immigrants. The book maps out the development of immigrants' social rights from the early postwar period until around 2010 in six countries representing different welfare state regimes: the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Sweden and Denmark. Part I addresses three major issues. The first is how inclusive or exclusionary welfare state policies are in relation to immigrants, and especially how the type of welfare state and incorporation regime affect their social rights. The second issue concerns changes in immigrant rights and the direction of the change: rights extension versus rights contraction. The third issue is how immigrants' social rights compare to those of citizens. Part II shifts from policies affecting immigrant rights to the politics of the policies. It examines the politics of inclusion and exclusion in the six countries, focusing on social rights extension and contraction and changes in the policy dimensions of the incorporation regime that impinge on immigrant rights.
This article explores how policy constructions shape policy outcomes for immigrant women and men, focusing on two Swedish childcare policies: (1) parental leave and (2) childcare services. It sheds ...light on the dynamics between policy constructions and (1) the gender differentiation in immigrants’ social entitlements, (2) the gender differentiation in social entitlements of the Swedish-born population and (3) differences and similarities between the two. Among the major findings is that the universal construction of childcare services and parental insurance promotes parity in immigrant and Swedish-born parents’ utilization. Immigrant families have high enrolment rates in childcare programmes and their rates approach or equal those of non-immigrant families. In the case of parental benefits, over 40 percent of immigrant mothers would be ineligible without the universal construction, and a huge immigrant/ethnic divide in entitlement would exist. Second, a gender differentiation characterizes the claiming of parental benefits, and the differentiation is sharper for immigrant parents. Third, the ethnicity benefit differential is much wider for mothers’ parental leave benefits than for fathers’ benefits. Fourth, despite universal policy constructions, immigrants’ weaker attachment to the labour market affects their social rights, and the effect is greater for immigrant women.
In analysing the social rights of immigrants, this paper draws on insights from comparative welfare state research and international migration studies. On the premise that the type of welfare regime ...has an impact on immigrants’ social rights, it utilizes Esping-Andersen’s welfare regime typology as a point of departure. However, this typology must be complemented by two analytical constructs borrowed from the international migration literature: the immigration policy regime and entry categories associated with the form of immigration. The paper examines the social rights of immigrants in three countries generally regarded as exemplars of the welfare regime types: the United States, representing the liberal regime; germany, the conservative corporatist regime; and Sweden, the social democratic regime. It maps out immigrants’ formal incorporation into the welfare systems of the three countries and pays special attention to legislation from 1990 onwards in order to understand the interplay between welfare regimes, the forms of immigration, and the immigration policy regimes in shaping immigrants’ social rights.
Feminist scholars have made an impressive contribution to the rethinking of citizenship, but they have largely neglected the gender differentiation of citizenship acquisition. This neglect has ...resulted in a lack of knowledge concerning the processes of change underpinning nationality reforms that have weakened the patriarchal nature of citizenship. This article seeks to fill the current void through a comparative analysis of nationality reforms that have granted married women an independent right to nationality and mothers the right to transmit their nationality to their children. It examines the politics of these reforms in the United States, France and Germany as well as the international dimension of these nationality reforms. The analysis reveals the long-term significance of the early internationalization of women's nationality rights and the interplay between domestic and transnational feminist activism.
How can mainstream models and classifications be used in analyzing welfare states and gender? What sorts of modifications to traditional theory are required? These and other questions are addressed ...in this book - the first to synthesize the insights of feminist and mainstream research in examining the impact of gender on welfare state analysis and outcomes. The text also highlights the effect of welfare state policies on women and men. The international and interdisciplinary contributors approach the subject on two levels. First, they test the applicability of mainstream frameworks to new areas in analyzing gender. Second, they highlight possible reconceptualizations and innovative frameworks designed to provide gender- based analyses. These approaches are combined with a strong comparative component, focusing on a cross-section of countries of major interest in welfare state research.
Gender and Welfare State Regimes focuses on how social provision, taxation, and labour market policies structure and transform gender relations in several advanced industrial democracies. A central ...question is whether gender policy regimes coincide or cut across welfare state regimes. The first chapters examine the construction of gender in policies of countries representing the same welfare state regime—the conservative, liberal and social democratic regimes—while the subsequent chapters compare policies across welfare state regimes. The book argues that policy variations across the countries are shaped by differing strategies and demands of women's movements, the organizational strength of labour and industrial relations frameworks, and the constellations of parties supporting equality measures, policy legacies, and state structures.
This article examines gender mainstreaming in Sweden, which is an interesting case because several favorable conditions make its implementation likely. It addresses two main questions: (1) to what ...extent has gender mainstreaming been implemented and (2) what are the consequences? The article first discusses the pros and cons of gender mainstreaming as reflected in the international feminist debate. It then briefly describes the favorable conditions of the Swedish case and subsequently maps out the introduction of gender mainstreaming since 1994, focusing on the process and its politics. It concludes with a discussion of the Swedish experience in terms of the promise and pitfalls of gender mainstreaming identified in the feminist debate and the implications of the Swedish case for feminist theorizing on gender mainstreaming.
How can mainstream models and classifications be used in analyzing welfare states and gender? What sorts of modifications to traditional theory are required? These and other questions are addressed ...in this book - the first to synthesize the insights of feminist and mainstream research in examining the impact of gender on welfare state analysis and outcomes. The text also highlights the effect of welfare state policies on women and men.
The international and interdisciplinary contributors approach the subject on two levels. First, they test the applicability of mainstream frameworks to new areas in analyzing gender. Second, they highlight possible reconceptualizations and innovative frameworks designed to provide gender-based analyses. These approaches are combined with a strong comparative component, focusing on a cross-section of countries of major interest in welfare state research.
The growing number of women in parliament (currently 45 percent) and in the cabinet (at times 50 percent) in Sweden over the past three decades has been frequently noted. A less well‐known phenomenon ...is the advances made by women in appointed positions since the late 1980s. This article seeks to understand the dynamics of the process of increased representation in both elected and appointed office and its timing. Putting special emphasis on discursive strategies and resources, the article examines three crucial debates. It argues that a discursive turn involving two changes set the process in motion. The first was to redefine women's issues as demands for gender equality. This transformed women's issues, which were earlier regarded as peculiar to women who were a special minority, into major party issues. In effect this change recast the conditions for substantive representation – the incorporation of women's preferences in policies. The second aspect of the discursive turn was gendering the demand for greater democracy. Framing the issue of women's representation in this way strategically converted political women from a minority within each of the parties into a majority of the citizenry – improving the potential for descriptive representation. The article concludes that, despite the importance of naming and framing, it is the combination of discursive and organizational resources – especially the institutional presence of women – that has been decisive for women securing public office.
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