Data di Pubblicazione:
2018
Citazione:
The economic crisis and changes in work-family arrangements in six European countries / G. Dotti Sani. - In: JOURNAL OF EUROPEAN SOCIAL POLICY. - ISSN 0958-9287. - 28:2(2018 May), pp. 177-193. [10.1177/0958928717700566]
Abstract:
Over the past decades, there has been a substantial increase in female labour force participation, and the
number of dual-earner and female-earner households has risen throughout western countries. However,
the recent economic crisis has caused large losses in employment for both women and men, potentially
yielding unexpected consequences for the evolution of work–family arrangements. This article carries
out a comparative analysis of the relationship between the 2008/2009 economic crisis and work–family
arrangements in Europe. Using data for six countries from the European Union Statistics on Income and
Living Conditions, this article fills a gap in the literature by addressing three issues: (1) whether work–family
arrangements have changed from before to after the beginning of the economic downturn in countries with
different gender and welfare regimes (Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Sweden and the United Kingdom),
(2) whether changes in work–family arrangements have occurred at different levels of the social strata and
(3) whether couples have moved from dual-earner to male- or female-breadwinner. The results indicate
changes in work–family arrangements in those countries worst hit by the economic crisis, Greece and
Spain, where dual-earner and male-breadwinner households have decreased and no-earner and femalemain-
earner households have increased. Moreover, the results show that in these two countries, all social
strata – proxied through women’s level of education – have been affected by the crisis. In contrast, only
moderate changes in work–family arrangements among all women can be observed in countries less hit
by the economic downturn. The findings for the two southern European countries are troubling, as the
increases in no-earner and female-breadwinner households point to worsening economic conditions
throughout the population and to a halt in the process that for several decades had been leading to more
equality in the distribution of employment between genders
Tipologia IRIS:
01 - Articolo su periodico
Keywords:
Economic crisis; Female employment; Work–family arrangements; Women’s education; Europe
Elenco autori:
G. Dotti Sani
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