Abstract
The aim of this chapter is to examine how different welfare policy regimes have influence on the social risks which individuals are confronted in managing and reconciling the relationship between work and family life. The influx of women into the labour market, the decline of the male breadwinner family and changing gender norms has created new social risks for both men and women. As a consequence of the emergence of double-earner households, at least part of the unpaid care work that used to be performed in the family by the housewife now needs to be externalised either to the state or to the market. However, women and men with inadequate access to adequately paid leave or care facilities are facing a risk of being forced to either exiting the labour market or reducing their time in paid work because of care responsibilities. This chapter examines how institutional as well as individual dimensions determine the risk of spending more time than wanted outside paid work because of care responsibilities. This chapter uses comparative data from the fourth round of the European Social Survey carried out in 2008.
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Notes
- 1.
Because of problems in estimating the household income in different countries, we use a subjective measure of the household’s economy. Economic capital is defined as the person who is living comfortably on present income or coping on present income. We use following question in the ESS 2008 to measure the economic capital:
Which of the descriptions on this card comes closest to how you feel about your household’s income nowadays?
Living comfortably on present income 1
Coping on present income 2
Finding it difficult on present income 3
Finding it very difficult on present income 4
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Ejrnæs, A., Boje, T.P. (2013). New Social Risks and Work-Family Balance. In: Moreno Minguez, A. (eds) Family Well-Being. Social Indicators Research Series, vol 49. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4354-0_7
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