Abstract
The Nordic countries1 have for some decades had children’s daycare arrangements which differ from those of other Western societies. The pragmatic or functionalist explanation for public daycare is women’s waged employment; rates of female employment are high in the Scandinavian societies, exceeded only by those in the former socialist countries. In a recent comparison of early childhood education and care services in 20 OECD countries, Denmark holds the top position in public expenditure on such services with a 2.0% share of GDP, followed by Sweden (1.7%), Norway (1.7%) and Finland (1.4%); France is in fifth place with 1%. Those spending 0.5% of GDP or less include the United States, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy (OECD, 2006, figure 5.3).
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© 2009 Pirkko-Liisa Rauhala
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Rauhala, PL. (2009). Child Care as an Issue of Equality and Equity: The Example of the Nordic Countries. In: Scheiwe, K., Willekens, H. (eds) Childcare and Preschool Development in Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230232778_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230232778_9
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