Reconciliation Policies in Spain

Abstract

Equal pay and equal treatment for working men and women have been. on the policy agenda in Spain since the mid-1970s. Over this period, Spain has built up a strong body of equal opportunities legislation, thereby extending the rights of women as paid workers, partly as a result of Spain’s entry into the European Community (EC) in 1986 (Threlfall, 1997). Relatively few measures have been introduced, however, to help parents combine employment and family life (Tobio, 1994, 1996a, 1996b). Several reasons may help to explain why reconciliation policies have not been developed further. Firstly, labour surpluses have been a permanent feature of the Spanish labour market. Therefore, from a strictly economic point of view, policies are not needed to enable women to participate in the workforce. Secondly, apart from health and education services, historically, the Spanish welfare state has developed a strong emphasis on monetary transfers rather than care services. It has been easier to expand monetary benefits, for instance for maternity, than establish childcare services. Thirdly, societal views about childrearing emphasize the value of the care provided by mothers and family members and mistrust public childcare centres for very young children.KeywordsParental LeaveMaternity LeaveFeminist MovementChildcare CentreSpanish Labour MarketThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.