1 ESPAnet Conference FIRST DRAFT Changing European Societies – The Role for Social Policy 13.-15. november 2003 FAMILY AND/ OR WORK IN EUROPE? Cecilie Wehner & Peter Abrahamson Department of Sociology University of Copenhagen 22 Linnesgade, DK-1361 Copenhagen K Cecilie.Wehner@ sociology.ku.dk; Peter.Abrahamson@ sociology.ku.dk ABSTRACT The paper takes as its starting point the existence of three qualitatively different welfare regimes in E urope as originally developed by Titmuss (1971) and later coined by E sping-Andersen (1990). The criticism voiced against this particular understanding of division of welfare as being gender biased is taken on board when analysing reconciliation of work and family life currently. Hence the distinction between paid and unpaid work as well as the one between male-bread winner and dual earner are taken into consideration. Denmark, the Netherlands and the UK are used as cases for the Scandinavian, the Continental and the Atlantic regimes respectively. The reconciliation of work and family life is then discussed by applying the concept of ‘women-friendliness’ to the development in the three countries during the 1990s. This development is then synthesised by introducing a new concept, the concept of ‘family-friendliness’ which seeks to embrace the whole family: mothers, fathers and children. Though the three countries belong to different welfare regimes some similarities occur from the country studies. The emergence of the dual-earner family challenges states to take new responsibilities as families (mothers) can no longer be considered to provide full-time care, nor can they afford to rely exclusively on markets as shown in the British and Dutch cases. In Denmark this challenge is not a new one as the dual-earner model has been in effect during the past thirty years. The welfare states in the UK and the Netherlands also have become more women-friendly with regard to care, but rarely gender equal. Part- time work for women and part-time day care for children still dominates the picture, and make the move towards the ‘real’ dual earner model less dramatic in the United K ingdom and the Netherlands. All the countries present characteristics and features that usually would be associated with other regime types than the one they are considered to belong. Still, the general picture of respectively a one-and-a- half earner/male breadwinner and a dual earner model prevails. It is concluded that changes in norms and attitudes towards the integration of males into a traditional female sphere will be a necessary precondition in pursuing gender equality on the labour market as well as in the family. The country studies are build on information gathered in relation to the project Welfare policies and employment in the context of family change . The research project, which is sponsored by the Nordic Council of Ministers, focuses on the relations between demography, employment and policies in the Nordic countries, Germany, the Netherlands and United Kingdom. The first reports will be published in autumn 2003 at: www.york.ac.uk/inst/spru/research/summs/welempfc.htm