Family Policy Measures Research Articles

Народжуваність та сімейна політика у країнах Європи у період пандемії COVID-19

The study of shifts in the fertility dynamics during crisis periods along with changes in the system of family policy in European countries is a relevant direction of research for the further development of Ukraine’s demographic policy, increasing its effectiveness, especially in the period of post-war reconstruction. In this regard, the purpose of our paper is to find out the changes in trends and structural characteristics of fertility in the first years of the COVID-19 pandemic in European countries in combination with the analysis of change in family policy, effectiveness of current and implemented during this period policy measures. The main methods used in the paper were systematization and generalization of statistical information from various sources, structural-logical and comparative analysis and critical assessment of measures implemented to counter crisis situations in developed European countries. The scientific novelty consists in generalizing fertility characteristics and family policy measures to counteract the negative impact of COVID-19 pandemic on family wellbeing in European countries. The grouping of European countries was based on the changes that occurred in the fertility dynamics on the eve of the COVID-19 pandemic and in 2020—2021. In most countries, there was a decrease in the total fertility rate in 2020 followed by a rather sharp rise in 2021. This became possible due to the increase in childbirth among women of middle and older reproductive age. The countries in which there was a long period of decline in the total fertility rate before the epidemic but in 2021 fertility increased despite the complexity of the epidemiological situation (Ireland, the Netherlands, Iceland, Norway) have drawn the most attention. Consistency, comprehensiveness, adherence to principles, variety are key characteristics of family policy that strengthen reproductive resilience. Along with providing financial assistance to families with children, in many countries, parents were given additional paid leave, measures were introduced to counter the dismissal of employees who have children, support was provided to institutions that continued to provide childcare services, and remote employment opportunities were expanded. The issues of the influence of population’s trust in the government (especially in periods of crisis) on formation of reproductive intentions and their realization need further study.

Teaching Family? Care/Work Policy in Selected Family Courses in Canada's Research-Intensive Universities.

To what degree is explicit care/work policy taught in family courses in Canada's leading research-intensive universities? We analyze family courses in sociology departments and in political studies and women's/gender studies programs in Canada's 15 R1 universities to make a contribution to the scholarship of teaching and learning. This national scan marks a methodological innovation from curriculum studies that generally adopt a single-program or single-site focus. From a Canadian universe of 74 family courses, we identify 15 whose formal course calendar description explicitly addresses care/work family policy (measures to reconcile caring for young children with employment, through early learning and childcare, parental leaves, and child benefits). Sociology predominates among courses where family policy is taught, yet care/work policy content is not common. Given growing concerns about the care crisis and the care deficit in Canada, the low profile of care/work family policy content in family courses is significant. This study sheds light on the value of national postsecondary education curricular reviews and suggests that family curriculum renewal is warranted.

Introduction to the Thematic Series: Use and consequences of family policies among migrants and their descendants in Europe

This article is the introduction to the Thematic Series Use and consequences of family policies among migrants and their descendants in Europe. The study contexts are countries in different Western European regions: Belgium, France, Germany, and Italy. Despite their differences with respect to welfare-state types in general and family policies in particular, these countries also vary when it comes to their immigration histories and current migrant populations. Yet, the fast-growing field of research on the effects of family polices on family and fertility behavior as well as work-family reconciliation has virtually overlooked migrants. To address this void in the existing literature, this Thematic Series raises two research questions: To what degree do family policies include, and are used by, migrants and their descendants? And, to what extent do such polices promote migrants’ integration into European societies? The collection contains six empirical articles investigating either eligibility or use and consequences of two specific family policy measures: parental leave and external childcare. Collectively, the studies show significant disadvantages among migrant groups in eligibility for family policy measures, and consequently in their use and impacts on further life-course patterns, compared to majority populations. They also demonstrate diverging patterns within migrant populations.

Familienpolitik – Quo vadis?

Abstract With the current draft budget 2024 by the Federal Minister of Finance, Christian Lindner, and the planned cuts in the area of family, a heated debate has flared up about which family policy measures make sense, how they work and what alternatives exist. The good news is that family policy is now finally receiving increased attention. But the question arises as to how a sustainable family policy should be sensibly designed. Family policy should not be viewed in isolation, but in interaction with education, economic and labour market policy.

THE ROLE OF RUSSIAN ORTHODOX TRADITIONS AND FAMILY VALUES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MODERN APPEARANCE YOUTH AS A VECTOR OF STATE DEVELOPMENT FAMILY POLICY

The purpose of the work is to assess the role and influence of Russian Orthodox traditions and family values on the formation of the appearance of youth of the XXI century within the framework of the state family policy. Materials and methods. On the basis of an analysis of the provisions of normative legal acts and the practice of their application, characterize the features of the implementation of measures and measures of state family policy, taking into account the experience of the Federation and the regions. Study results. The study allows us to state that respect for work, support and love of family and loved ones, forgiveness of grievances, attention to the needs of the neighbor, preservation of the spiritual historical heritage are the main tenets of preserving traditional family life, without which the prosperity and well-being of Russian society is unthinkable. Conclusions. The state family policy activities carried out by the authorities and management bodies, both at the federal and regional levels, based on the revival of the spiritual and cultural foundations of Orthodoxy and the original Russian family traditions, make it possible to once again form a solid foundation for the institution of the Russian family.

Russian student family: Determinants of marriage

The birth rate reducing to the level that does not ensure even the simple reproduction of the population, which leads to problems in the economy and social sphere and to migration crises, is a challenge for many developed countries. The demographic and family policy measures aim at solving this problem, which is reflected, for instance, in the Russian National Security Strategy approved on July 2, 2021 by the Decree of the President: the increasing birth rate is declared a required condition for increasing the country’s population. In contemporary Russia, the age model of fertility has transformed: the spreading practice of postponing childbirth in the last fifteen years has led to an increase in the modal age of mothers by more than five years, which is a factor in the decline in fertility. One of the mechanisms that can change this trend but lacks the due attention is the institution of the student family. The study aims at identifying those factors that determine the marriage intentions of the student youth. The article is based on the quantitative analysis of the surveys data of the Rosstat and authors’ sociological research, including logistic models and the decision tree method, which allowed to conduct modeling and select factors to identify the determinants of student marriage. The modeling results revealed the role of the value-system structure of students and their parental family in the motivation for marriage and starting family life. One of the main conclusions of practical significance is the confirmed importance for the youth of marriage as such and as a key stage in the life path, which under the postponing childbirth and reducing birth rate determines the need for the state support for the student family. The results of the study can help to solve a complex demographic problem of the decline and aging of the birth rate, which requires systematic work to create an image of the happy student family and to introduce mechanisms for supporting it.

Belgian family policy from a comparative perspective: does it support fertility and gender equity?

The aim of this article is to compare the Belgian family policy to policies in other countries within the so-called conservative welfare state regime group, namely, France, Germany and the Netherlands, and to the policy applied in one country that has adopted a social-democratic model, i.e., Sweden. Based on previous studies, we aim to identify strengths and weaknesses according to two criteria: efficacy in promoting fertility and promoting gender equity, the latter being understood as mothers’ involvement in the labour market and fathers’ involvement in care. We maintain that the Belgian family policy presents several features that have the potential to positively affect fertility. Such positive features mainly pertain to family allowances and birth premiums, together with enrolment rates for children under three years of age (albeit with worrisome, low public spending on childcare). However, other aspects of the Belgian policy are more critical for gender equity. Such aspects include the remuneration of parental leave and time credit, a lack of radical reforms to support fathers’ involvement, and regional disparities in several family policy measures. Counterintuitively, short durations for maternity leave and parental leave might also negatively affect gender equity.

The Discourse of Family Policy in Sociological Research

The subject of the study is approaches to assessing the effectiveness and principles of implementing family policy in developed countries such as the United States of America, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Italy, Spain, Finland, etc. The main objective of this article is to compare the views of foreign authors and discourses of family policy, taking into account the diversity of approaches to family policy. Priority directions of family policy research in selected publications of foreign researchers were considered. For the analysis, the principles that allow to represent the discourse of family policy are identified. In this regard, the tasks were set to identify the concepts of family policy in the reviewed foreign articles for the formation of tools that allow: 1) to determine the general characteristics and features of various approaches to family policy of the modern welfare state, highlighted in the works of foreign authors, 2) to assess the unity of positions in the field of family policy. A methodological model called "semantic-structural" analysis was used, which is based on a combination of content analysis and the method of information-target analysis. The analysis of scientific articles by foreign authors allows us to conclude that there is a unified approach to family policy in the welfare states of Western Europe, Asia and North America. A common place in modern studies of family policy is the emphasis on the importance of economic measures associated with the work of family members, the possibility of strengthening the relationship between parents and children through the implementation of social policy measures. The conclusions of the study showed the ambivalence of family policy due to the lack of opportunity to form a unified doctrinal idea of evaluating the effectiveness of family policy measures. The question of assessing the effectiveness of appropriate measures, the priority of a "broad" approach in relation to solving problems within the family remains debatable.

Policy(s) of Reconciliation of Family and Professional Obligations in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The paper analyzes the policy(s) of harmonizing family and professional obligations in the context of the legal regulations of both domestic and international documents that are applied in B&H. The subject of the research is based on the analysis of family policy measures that are directly aimed at harmonizing family and professional obligations in B&H, by reviewing the existing policies and practices of social and labor legislation at the level of three administrative units: Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of Srpska and The Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As part of the research, current measures and activities that are regulated by laws in B&H, such as maternity/parental leave (time), maternity benefits (money), and childcare services (services of preschool institutions) were analyzed as important factors when harmonizing family and professional obligations. The policies of harmonizing family and professional obligations in B&H are harmonized with EU standards, but they are not sufficiently developed, which means that parents must make additional efforts to meet the demands of the workplace and the family. To achieve a balance between the demands of the labor market, the level of monetary benefits and the length of payment, the possibility of taking leave and the use of childcare services, taking into account the circumstances first in the economic sense, it is necessary to work on improving the measures in this area, respecting and the choice of the parents themselves.

Demographic and Family Policies as a Part of Contemporary Social Policy: Theoretical Approaches, Goals, Implementation Mechanisms and Performance Assessment (Part 2)

Despite the long history of implementation of demographic policy, there is no consensus on its results. The principles and criteria for evaluating the results are discussed in great detail in the literature, but opinions differ greatly with regard to the domestic policy. Nevertheless, experts assess the results as low, because despite the success of certain years stable natural population growth has not been achieved. The results of family policy are also low, since the poverty of families with children is very high, and the family crisis has not been overcome. The article examines some of the benefits of demographic and family policy, which are aimed at helping young families and families with children. It is noted that the benefits in general do not fulfill their function, because they are small enough to make a noticeable contribution to the family budget, or do not provide a standard of living even at the level of the subsistence minimum. It is shown that, in general, the more economically developed a region is, the more opportunities it has to implement more active policies, although the relationship between the level of economic development and the amount of assistance to families with children is not always direct. However, the differences between the regions are significant. It is concluded that other measures of assistance to families with children need to be considered in more detail, and that regional measures of assistance to families need to be monitored regularly. It is necessary to increase funding for demographic and family policy measures and to modernize the system of benefits. It is also necessary to strengthen family policy measures aimed at creating the need for a family way of life and for several children in the family. This article is the second part of the study. The first part examined the goals, functions, and approaches to demographic and family policies (see Journal Issue No. 1, 2022).

ПРАВОВОЙ РЕЖИМ ИМУЩЕСТВА ЛИЦ, СОСТОЯЩИХ В НЕЗАРЕГИСТРИРОВАННОМ БРАКЕ

The article examines the issue of determining the legal regime of property of persons in an unregistered marriage. The authors analyze law enforcement practice, including the position of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, on resolving property disputes between cohabitants, consider foreign experience in the legal regulation of these relations. The statistical materials presented in the paper illustrate the popularity of cohabitation relations in the Russian Federation, and sociologists' research reveals the possible reasons for the reluctance of persons to enter into marital relations registered in the manner prescribed by law. The authors support the need to take state family policy measures aimed at preserving and strengthening traditional family values, improving the institutions of family and marriage.

СЕМЕЙНАЯ ПОЛИТИКА В СУБЪЕКТАХ РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ С ВЫСОКОЙ РОЖДАЕМОСТЬЮ: ГРАЖДАНСКИЙ И ОФИЦИАЛЬНЫЙ ДИСКУРСЫ

The article, based on analyzing the network and open data, identifies and characterizes specifics in the implementation of measures of state family policy in the subjects of the Russian Federation, demonstrating a tendency to increase the birth rate. As a result of the conducted research, the points of intersection and fault lines between the activities of state structures (official discourse) and the expectations of civil society (civil discourse) regarding the assessment of the effectiveness and efficiency for measures taken in the field of support for Russian families in the subjects of the Russian Federation with a tendency to increase the birth rate are identified. Those subjects are able to respond in a timely manner to emerging faults in official and civil discourses and support the sustainable development of the regions and Russia as a whole.

Институт семьи как основа государственной семейной политики Республики Беларусь

According to the National Security Concept, approved by Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus dated November 9, 2010 no. 575, strengthening the institution of the family as a social institution that is most favorable for meeting the need for children and their upbringing is the main national interest in the demographic sphere. In connection with the above, the subject of this study is the legislation of the Republic of Belarus, which defines the boundaries of understanding the term “family” as a legally significant category. The purpose of the study is to identify contradictions in the legislation in terms of understanding the term “family” and its individual components. In the course of the study, general scientific methods (functional and system-structural methods), as well as special research methods in law (formal legal method and the method of legal hermeneutics) were used. Thus, in particular, the following was established. The objects of family policy are the family itself, as well as state and public institutions that directly affect its functioning and development. The key parties in the implementation of state family policy measures are the family institution as a social institution, other social institutions (economic, political, cultural, and others), as well as state institutions (parliament, government, presidency, judicial system). The area of possible application of the results of the work can be rule-making activities. Theoretical conclusions are formulated, as well as proposals are made aimed at improving the legislation of the Republic of Belarus.

Early Childhood Education and Care in Kosovo: A Targeted Educational Approach Producing and Maintaining Social and Gender Inequalities

This article examines participation in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) in Kosovo based on a recent survey and administrative data. Kosovo’s ECEC policy aims to provide education and care for children aged 0 to 6 through an approach consisting of highly targeted public services for more vulnerable social groups, while expecting the rest to rely on the market or the family. It also provides a universal, public (2.5 hours a day) school preparatory programme for children aged 5-6 years. Availability of ECEC services has been rising, but remains well below the levels of the countries in the region. New services are increasingly coming through a market-based provision which leaves large social groups such as low-income families, rural families, parents with lower educational status and other socio-economically disadvantaged parents worse off. Since ECEC is considered highly relevant for children’s personal development and success in school, as well as for female participation in the labour market, the findings suggest that the current policy contributes towards cementing and furthering social and gender inequalities in the long run. In the absence of more comprehensive public services and other supportive family policy measures, Kosovo maintains a strong implicit familialistic policy with a weak potential to contribute to women’s employment. Key words: Kosovo, ECEC, defamilialisation, familialism, privatisation.

Https://hjournal.ru/en/journals/journal-of-economic-regulation/2021/264-no-3/2244-economic-mechanisms-of-family-policy-in-russia-in-the-context-of-the-covid-19-pandemic.html

The increasing decline in the population of Russia during the pandemic period has caused a new wave of measures to support the population, especially families with children. The article decomposes the existing family policy in Russia, highlighting the prevailing economic mechanisms for stimulating the birth rate and supporting marriage; an analysis of a set of family policy measures was carried out for their adequacy to the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, and recommendations were made to improve the mechanisms of family policy in Russia in order to increase their effectiveness. It is shown that state measures to support marriage and fertility both at the federal and regional levels are characterized by fragmentation and proceed from the narrative of a traditional large family, which is de facto also low-income. In general, family policy focuses on the federal level of support, while the regional level is virtually absent. The complex of economic mechanisms of family policy is characterized, and their emphasis on quantitative support of the birth rate is shown; the proposed measures are not strictly focused on marriage. Most of the designated conditions of the federal center are focused on children and motherhood, without affecting the specific circumstances of the family as a union of a man and a woman. A grouping of measures by regional authorities to prevent the negative consequences of COVID-19 and proposals for the participation of regions in the implementation of the economic mechanisms of family policy in Russia are presented.

О востребованности мер демографической политики (анализ всероссийского социологического исследования)

The article analyzes the author's sociological research conducted in 2020 on the demand for demographic policy measures in ten subjects of the Russian Federation. The author notes the need for comprehensive, long-term, effective measures of family policy to build confidence on the part of young people in the reliability and effectiveness of the family policy model.

More Money — More Births? Estimating Effects of 2007 Family Policy Changes on Probability of Second and Subsequent Births in Russia

From 2007 to 2015 total fertility rate in Russia increased from 1.42 to 1.78, following a long period of decline in 1990-1999 and stagnation in 2000-2006. Politicians attribute this growth to a package of pro-natalist policy measures introduced in 2007 and particularly to the maternity (family) capital program, the most well-known innovation of the 2007 reform. Existing studies, although sparse, have not actually proven this point of view clearly yet. This paper aims to reveal whether the pro-natalist measures of 2007 have influenced probability of second and consequent births in Russia. Since in 2007 several family policy measures were introduced simultaneously, and the authors estimate their cumulative effect applying a set of binary logistic regressions on the panel of Russian Generations and Gender Survey data collected in 2004, 2007, and 2011. The study reveals that the probability of second and subsequent births before the introduction of policy measures does not differ significantly from that observed after it. The authors find no effect of 2007 family policy changes on probability of second and consequent births in Russia. The data shows some signs of selective influence of the 2007 policy changes on women with lower human capital and incomes, however, further studies on bigger samples are needed to prove this fact. The study extends the academic discussion and adds to the pool of empirical evidence on the pro-natalist policy effects on fertility. By demonstrating no significant effects of Russian 2007 family policy measures the paper contributes to the overcoming of existing publication bias in the field.
 Acknowledgements. The authors are grateful for the support granted to the research within the Basic Research Program at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE).

How Family Policy Context Shapes Mental Wellbeing of Mothers and Fathers

Most studies show that parents have a lower level of wellbeing than non-parents. An interesting question is if this is true in different contexts, such for instance different family policy contexts. Although there are common family policy goals for all member states of the European Union there are still major differences between states regarding the implementation and contents of various family policy measures. The aim of the article is to study the importance of family policy context and gender for the negative influence of having children on mental wellbeing. Data is derived from an extensive cross-country data set named European Social Survey Program (ESS). Family policy context is measured through the different family policies contexts that each state represents, resulting in a Nordic cluster (representing an extensive family policy context) and two clusters, the conservative and liberal, representing less extensive family policy contexts. Results in general show that the level of mental wellbeing is lower among people with children living at home than among people with no children at home. However, separate analyses of the family policy contexts indicate that this difference between those with and without children only exists in the conservative and liberal family policy contexts. Further, separate analyses of women and men in different family policy contexts show that the negative association between the occurrence of children and mental wellbeing exist only among women in conservative and liberal contexts. This indicates that the family policy context is of importance for mother’s mental wellbeing but not for father’s.

Explaining New Patterns in Family Leave Policies in Latin America: Competing Visions and Facilitating Institutions

ABSTRACTRecent years have seen the rapid passage and modification of family leave policies in Latin America, a surprising trend, given the region’s historically conservative gender norms. This article argues that the rise of new paternity leave policies—as well as the modifications to longer-standing maternity leave policies—reflects contending visions of gender and the family, mediated by the institutions and actors that populate the region’s political landscape. Using an original dataset of family policy measures, this article finds that the factors facilitating the adoption of new, vanguard policies, such as paternity leave, function in ways different from those that shape the expansion of longer-standing policies, including maternity leave.

Влияние уровня жизни на репродуктивное поведение россиян: гендерный аспект

The relevance of the study of the impact of living standards on the reproductive behavior of men and women is due to the complexity of the demographic situation at the national level, the inconsistency of the reproductive behavior of Russians, the need to develop predictive hypotheses of fertility, as well as identify institutional solutions that can be used to develop new measures in the framework of state programs to increase the birth rate in the Russian Federation. The empirical basis of the study is data from representative sample surveys: sample observations of the population’s reproductive plans, which were conducted by Rosstat in 2012 and 2017, as well as the results of the first wave of the all-Russian sociological study “Demographic well-being of Russiaˮ, conducted in late 2019 — early 2020 under the guidance of Doctor of Sociological Sciences, Professor T. K. Rostovskaya. The results of the study will be used in monitoring and implementing family policy measures at the micro- , meso- and macrolevels: forming the conceptual and legislative framework for family and demographic policy; evaluating the effectiveness of family and demographic policy.