Gender, Equality and Welfare States [Paperback]

Feminist critique of US, UK, Swedish, and Dutch welfare systems, with proposals for achieving greater gender equality.What differences do welfare state variations make for women? How do women and men fare in different welfare states? This text answers these questions by analyzing the United States, Britain, Sweden and the Netherlands, whose welfare policies differ in significant ways.What differences do welfare state variations make for women? How do women and men fare in different welfare states? This text answers these questions by analyzing the United States, Britain, Sweden and the Netherlands, whose welfare policies differ in significant ways.What differences do welfare state variations make for women? How do women and men fare in different welfare states? Diane Sainsbury answers these questions by analyzing the United States, Britain, Sweden and The Netherlands, whose welfare policies differ in significant ways. Building on feminist research, she determines the extent to which legislation reflects and perpetuates the gendered division of labor in the family and society, as well as what types of policy alter gender relations in social provision. She offers constructive proposals for securing greater equality between women and men.Introduction; Part I. Dimensions of Variation: 1. Mainstream welfare state variations; 2. Gendering dimensions of welfare states; Part II. Bases of Entitlement: 3. The male breadwinner model and women's entitlements as wives; 4. Women's entitlements as mothers and caregivers; 5. Women's employment and entitlements as workers; Part III. Stratification and Redistributive Outcomes: 6. Access to benefits and the stratifying effects of bases of entitlement; 7. Benefit inequalities and the redistributive outcomes; Part IV. Welfare State Restructuring: 8. Gender equality reforms and their impact; 9. Welfare state retrenchment.