Work/family reconciliation policies in Europe

Alessandra Fasano, Istituto Nazionale di Statistica (ISTAT)
Antonella Guarneri, Istituto Nazionale di Statistica (ISTAT)
Cinzia Castagnaro, Istituto Nazionale di Statistica (ISTAT)
Francesca Rinesi, Istituto Nazionale di Statistica (ISTAT)

The aim of the paper is focused on the most relevant measures, in particular leave schemes and services, for work/family reconciliation. As many studies underlined, these measures can have a positive effect in the increase of female employment rates and, in a different perspective, can urge men/fathers to play their role in the family care commitments helping to settle a not gendered distribution of activities. Each country arranges different strategies according to its welfare state system [Orloff, 1993; Millar e Warman, 1996; Lewis, 1997; Sainsbury 1999; O’Connor, Orloff e Shaver, 1999; Esping-Andersen, 1999; Crouch, 2001; Haas, 2005; Plantenga and Remery, 2007; etc.]. Our attention will concentrate on countries that are illustrative of different care regimes models suggested by Bettio and Plantenga [2004], in the case: Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, France and Italy. The paper will be supported by an analysis of the legislation and data available, in particular for what concerns the part-time work (characteristics, access, preference, social protection, etc.) and working leave (maternity, paternity and parental) schemes, together with the information on public expenditure and coverage of childcare. It will discuss reconciliation models, starting from the hypothesis of a positive relation between social protections schemes of part-timers and workers on leave, high level of care services, high female employment rate.