© The Author 2012. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com. Social Forces 91(2) 583–608, December 2012 doi: 10.1093/sf/sos111 Advance Access publication on 27 September 2012 We gratefully acknowledge insightful comments, in particular from Professor Harry Ganzeboom and from the members of the Society of Labor Economics, Royal Economic Society and Research Committee on Social Stratification (RC 28) for their critical comments on the earlier presentations of this study. We would also like to thank the four anonymous reviewers for their careful and rigorous review on earlier drafts of this study. The Gendered Consequences of Unemployment Insurance Reforms Irma Mooi-Reci, VU University Amsterdam, the Netherlands Melinda Mills, University of Groningen, the Netherlands T his study examines whether a series of unemployment insurance benefit reforms that took place over a 20-year period in the Netherlands had a gendered effect on the duration of unemployment and labor market outcomes. Using longitudinal data from the Dutch Labor Supply Panel (OSA) over the period 1980-2000, and adopt- ing a quasi-experimental design, we test whether seemingly ‘gender neutral’ institu- tional reforms result in a structural disadvantage for women in particular. Our results demonstrate a striking gender similarity in terms of shorter unemployment durations and ultimately less favorable labor market outcomes (lower occupational class, lower wage, part-time and temporary contracts) among both men and women affected by these reforms. Findings also indicate that disadvantaged groups (older and low-skilled female workers) are the most likely to experience a negative effect from state interven- tions. These findings provide support for the long-term gains of unemployment benefits and their role in operating as “bridges” to better employment. Introduction A central premise of the gendered welfare state literature is that the state plays a key role in transforming or reproducing gender inequalities (Orloff 1993, 1996; Fraser 1994; Lewis 1992; Sainsbury 1999; Korpi 2000). Although wel- fare states are characterized as reducing inequalities and enhancing labor market protection, they also play a key role in promoting particular patterns of female employment, notions of the family, work-family compatibility and women’s The Gendered Consequences of Unemployment Insurance Reforms 583 at University of Melbourne on April 23, 2014 http://sf.oxfordjournals.org/ Downloaded from