In support of mothers’ employment: limits to policy convergence in the EU?

Abstract

This article compares 11 Western European countries with respect to public policies that promote the employment of mothers: maternity and parental leave, childcare provisions and family‐related tax credits and allowances. The goal of this analysis is to characterise trends in the development of these policies from the mid‐1980s to the present and identify the degree of policy convergence in this area of social policy. The process of convergence is analysed along two sets of criteria: the amount and forms of provisions, and the coherence of policies (eligibility, funding mechanisms, locus of regulation and quality control). The analysis is informed by theories of welfare regimes that identify distinctive patterns in which national policies shape the employment of women: general family support, dual‐earner families and market‐oriented families. Findings of the study reveal limited development towards harmonisation of national social policies. Such resilience of national welfare regimes can be attributed to institutional path dependence, on the one hand, and to minimal EU efforts to harmonise social policies, on the other. The article suggests that integrating markets have so far had a limited effect on social policy development, but that there are positive signs that convergence is possible in the future.