Analysis Of Family Policies Research Articles

Gender Mainstreaming and Work-Family Reconciliation. An Analysis of Family Policies in Romania and Germany

Gender Mainstreaming (GM) was introduced by the European Union (EU) in 1997, as a strategy to achieve gender equality in all policy areas. Yet, European countries greatly diverge in their progress of implementation. We investigate the role GM played in Romanian and German policies aimed at achieving work-family reconciliation, using concepts from feminist policy analysis. Our analysis shows that pre-existing policies and discourse, the economic situation, as well as the relationship with the EU have shaped and impeded the implementation process of GM in both countries. While Germany slowly moves towards more egalitarian policies, GM as label and strategy did not succeed. In Romania, GM has only impacted work and family reconciliation indirectly through EU legislation.

Fertility and Family Policies in Central and Eastern Europe after 1990

This paper examines fertility and family policies in 15 Central and East European (CEE) countries to establish firstly, likely directions of cohort fertility trends for the coming decade; and secondly, to provide an overview and analysis of family policies in CEE countries, and to assess their impact on cohort fertility trends. Demographic analysis suggests that the cohort fertility decline of the 1960s cohorts is likely to continue at least among the 1970s birth cohorts; stagnation cannot be ruled out. Births that were postponed by women born in the 1970s were not being replaced in sufficient numbers for cohort fertility to increase in the foreseeable future, and shares of low parity women (childless and one child) were larger than shares of high parity women among the late 1960s cohorts than in older cohorts. Also, childbearing postponement which started in the 1990s is reflected in dramatic changes of childbearing age patterns. As period fertility rates have been increasing in the late 2000s throughout the region an impression of a fertility recovery has been created, however the findings of this project indicate that no such widespread childbearing recovery is underway.For the first time ever an overview and analysis of CEE family policies is conceptualized in this paper. It demonstrates that fertility trends and family policies are a matter of serious concern throughout the region. The following family policy types have been identified: comprehensive family policy model; pro-natalist policies model; temporary male bread-winner model; and conventional family policies model. The majority of family policies in CEE countries suffer from a variety of shortcomings that impede them from generating enhanced family welfare and from providing conditions for cohort fertility to increase. The likely further decline of cohort fertility, or its stagnation, may entail long-term demographic as well as other societal consequences, such as continuous declines in total population numbers, changes in age structures, as well as implications for health and social security costs.

Gender Equality Policies, Social Citizenship and Democratic Deficit in the Post-communist Romanian Society

During the last twenty years, studies on democracy have shed light on the issue of social inequalities, which are a challenge for all democratic societies and which are configured based on gender, age, socio-professional status, religion or ethnicity. These analyses not only refer to democracy as a type of government but also investigate its deeper meaning, the one related to equal opportunities, social justice and social citizenship. In the absence of functional mechanisms able to lessen social disparities and to increase the level of inclusion, the quality of life, guaranteeing social rights and equal access to opportunities/resources, contemporary societies are challenged by a major democratic deficit. This research approach starts from the premise that political democracy (as a representative democracy) is not enough to talk about real democracy, because it needs to be supplemented by economic and social democracy. The paper advances a new correlation between social development indicators, social rights/social citizenship and the quality of democracy. Recent research in political sciences (G. Abels and J. M. Mushaben, 2012) shows that viewing the European Union through a gender lens exposes its double democratic deficit – one involving women's underrepresentation across EU institutions and decision-making institutions, the other reflecting the lack of gender sensitivity in EU policy-making. The paper interrogates the democratic deficit in the Romanian society placed in the actual European context. The analysis of family policies, of labour market or social security policies, from the perspective of their correlated effects on the dynamics of gender relationships, offers relevant indicators with regard to the welfare regimes and quality of democracy/democratic deficit in the post-communist Romanian society.

State and the Family: A Comparative Analysis of Family Policies in Industrialized Countries. Anne Helene Gauthier. Clarendon Press Oxford, 1996. 232 pp. Cloth, $65.00

State and the Family: A Comparative Analysis of Family Policies in Industrialized Countries. Anne Helene Gauthier. Clarendon Press Oxford, 1996. 232 pp. Cloth, $65.00

State and the Family: A Comparative Analysis of Family Policies in Industrialized Countries.

State and the Family: A Comparative Analysis of Family Policies in Industrialized Countries.

The State and the Family: A Comparative Analysis of Family Policies in Industrialized Countries

1. Introduction 2. Early Fears of Population Decline 3. First Elements of Family Policies 4. The Expansion of State Support 5. The Rediscovery of Poverty 6. Women's Issues: Second Wave 7. Renewed Demographic Concerns 8. The New Population Question 9. The Family as a Political Issue 10. Recent Trends in State Support 11. Conclusion Appendix A. Sources of Data Appendix B. Technical Notes

Anne Hélène Gauthier, The State and the Family: A Comparative Analysis of Family Policies in Industrialized Countries, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1996, 232 pp, hard £35.00.

Books on family policy are always welcome for it is the Cinderella of welfare state research. And comparative works on family policy are even more welcome, given that the study of social policy has now turned strongly comparative. Gauthier's comparative aim is daunting: she researches 22 countries over a time span of 100 years.

Teaching Family Policy Through Advocacy and Empowerment

A family policy analysis course, Child Care Think Tank, drew requests from policy advocates for an off-campus version of the course. The courses were redesigned and linked as an advocacy and empowerment process. Students in the resident course planned and organized a statewide conference, prepared technical information for advocacy, and facilitated conference sessions. Participants in the conference course were empowered to develop recommendations for the Governor's Child Care Task Force Report and to organize for continued advocacy. The critical theory of Habermas guided learning discourses, and Freire's problem-posing method was adapted as a guide for critical reasoning. Outcomes of the two courses demonstrate that teaching family policy through experiential involvement in advocacy and empowerment activities can be an alternate or complementary approach to didactic instruction in technical knowledge of family policy.

Family Policy Analysis

Research methodologies employed in family policy research are examined. Using three emerging concepts in family policy analysis—life status transitions, informal economic behavior, and stress mediation—recent policy research concerning low-income families is critically reviewed for its methodological adequacy. It is suggested that by integrating qualitative research methods into quantitative designs, the overall quality and cost-effectiveness of policy-relevant family research can be significantly improved. The implications of this suggestion are examined in the closing section of the article.