Abstract
AbstractChildcare policies have become an important element of social investment reforms, but in most countries access to childcare has remained socially unequal. Some studies have suggested that a trend towards more gender egalitarian work–family attitudes has facilitated the expansion of childcare provision. Yet, we know little about the repercussions of an unequal expansion of childcare provision on public attitudes towards the work–family nexus. Building on multilevel models of 18 European countries and two waves of the International Social Survey Programme, this analysis examines the effects of an unequal childcare expansion on attitudes towards maternal employment. The results reveal that individuals with lower income remain more skeptical of maternal employment when childcare provision is highly unequal. The unequally distributed benefits of an expansion of childcare provision contribute to a divergence of attitudes across socio-economic groups, which might create a more difficult political terrain for the implementation of expansive social investment reforms.
Highlights
Over recent years, childcare policies have received a great deal of attention as a central element of the emerging paradigm of a social investment welfare state (Morel et al 2012; Garritzmann et al 2017; Hemerijck 2013, 2017)
It is true that Denmark and Sweden combine the highest levels of public spending on childcare provision, almost 1.5% of gross domestic product (GDP), with close to equal enrolment across income groups, whereas public spending levels are among the lowest in Poland and Ireland, the two countries with by far the highest social inequality in childcare enrolment
While scholars referring to the emerging paradigm of a social investment welfare state sometimes normatively call for – and sometimes empirically find – expansive reforms of childcare services to take place, persistent variation in the institutional characteristics of childcare provision across countries remains
Summary
Childcare policies have received a great deal of attention as a central element of the emerging paradigm of a social investment welfare state (Morel et al 2012; Garritzmann et al 2017; Hemerijck 2013, 2017). I examine how the generosity of public spending on childcare provision and the inherent degree of social inequality in childcare enrolment shape attitudes of different socio-economic groups over time regarding the paid employment of mothers with small children. In line with existing literature (Sjöberg 2004; Zoch and Schober 2018), I expect an expansion of childcare to lead to attitudes becoming more supportive of maternal employment because it makes it easier for mothers to combine work and family life. The results imply that an expansion of childcare which does not address existing inequalities in access to care is likely to lead to attitudes towards maternal employment diverging across socio-economic groups and it runs the risk of reducing the legitimacy of reforms aimed exactly at improving the reconciliation of work and family life. A final section summarises the findings and highlights the implications for the politics of expanding childcare
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