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Tracing the transformations in European family life from historical and comparative perspectives, Manuela Naldini distinguishes the patterns of change among five groups of countries: Scandinavian, English-speaking, Continental Europe, Mediterranean, and Central-Eastern Europe. These clusters represent not only different geographical regions, but alternative gender and welfare regimes as well. Naldini’s analysis of the trends and patterns from the 1960s to the present illustrates the lines of convergence and divergence among these regions in the changing dimensions of family life. These dimensions include rates of marriage, cohabitation, divorce and out-of-wedlock births, increasing labor force participation of women, norms governing sexual relations, “new family” forms, and revised timing of basic stages (marriage, childbirth, leaving home) in the family life cycle. She finds a number of common patterns among the countries, such as low fertility rates, increasing pluralization of family life, and later transitions from the parental home. At the same time, much diversity remains in family arrangements, such as the introduction of marriage equality.

Il contributo analizza la dimensione di genere nella scienza, ripercorrendo alcuni dei molteplici aspetti del rapporto tra genere e scienza esplorati dalla letteratura femminista negli ultimi decenni. La prima parte affronta il tema della sotto-rappresentazione femminile nelle discipline scientifiche; la seconda parte illustra il concetto di scienza come istituzione di genere; infine l’ultima sezione del paragrafo discute le critiche mosse da parte dell’epistemologia femminista all’ideale del soggetto conoscente neutrale e dei concetti di neutralità e oggettività, concludendo con la necessità di evidenziare la prospettiva di genere per lo sviluppo di una ricerca più inclusiva ed equa.

Only recently has attention in gender studies on migration been paid to family/work reconciliation strategies. Currently, there are few studies that focus not only on the point of view of mothers, ...

During the transition to parenthood, the gender division of paid and unpaid work undergoes a profound redefinition in response to both attitudes and resources. These attitudes may be concordant or discordant between two partners, they may or may not clash with perceived financial or labour market constraints, and they may or may not provoke explicit conflicts and negotiations. In this study, by combining quantitative and qualitative data, we focus on Italian couples with young children or in transition to first child, and we explore what happens when partners have discordant views. The findings show that the division of domestic and care work seems more resistant to change and more responsive to the husband’s attitudes than does the division of paid work, as the latter is mainly driven by the woman’s education and attitudes. The findings also show that very few couples overtly disagree. If they do so, the main issue in dispute is the allocation of domestic work and the main solution consists more in hiring external help than in obtaining the husband’s greater participation. Compared with domestic work, the allocation of care is a less disputed and more flexible issue: when women start negotiations on a more equal sharing, men are more willing to increase their participation. However, when a more equal sharing is not attained, couples’ narratives tend to give the “cause” to the constraints of the man (typically his work) than of the woman, while they point at a redefinition (for the best of the family) of her rather than his preferences.

This article investigates the politics of ‘defamilialization of care’ in four familialist countries – Italy, Japan, Korea and Spain – during the past 15 years. By ‘defamilialization of care’, we refer to those public policies, which aim at reducing the care responsibility of the family – both for the young and the old. We build upon the existing literature on new social risks by highlighting the role of those macro-political institutions such as electoral systems and government types in order to demonstrate that there are two very different types of politics of defamilialization: (1) election-oriented and (2) problem-oriented. We attribute different policy outcomes in the four familialist countries to their specific institutional configurations rather than to partisan government composition or different cultural orientations.

To what extent and in what ways do welfare state policies and cultural values affect the employment patterns of mid-life women with care responsibilities toward a frail parent? The study draws on Eurobarometer micro-data integrated with country-level information to respond to this question. Performing a multilevel analysis across 21 European countries, it considers macro factors that influence the decisions of mid-life women to give up or reduce paid work in order to care for a frail elderly parent. The results show that, while the overall level of expenditure on long-term care is not influential, settings characterized by limited formal care services, and strong norms with regard to intergenerational obligations, have a negative impact on women’s attachment to the labour market. Policies and cultural factors also influence the extent to which women are polarized: in more defamilialized countries, regardless of their level of education, female carers rarely reduce their level of employment.

Given the growth of care needs, the emphasis on informal care and the increasing labour force participation of women and senior workers, balancing employment and elderly care responsibilities is a crucial challenge. This qualitative study explores how and with what implications Italian senior workers combine work with care for older people. The results indicate that the impact of care responsibilities on work is limited and that employment has a buffer effect on overwhelming care responsibilities. By contrast the implications for private and family life are considerable. The conditions and mechanisms that support these results are discussed.

Deliverable 9.4 aims to investigate the relationship between the effects of existing discrepancies between civil, political, social, and economic citizenship rights on the one hand, and obligations of European and non-European citizens as family members moving across borders on the other. The goal of Deliverable 9.4 is to provide insights on national attitudes towards several key themes, including: family and reproductive rights across diverse family forms in Europe, attitudes towards gender roles, attitudes towards European efforts to converge social and civil rights for family members and attitudes on the portability of these rights while moving within Europe. These insights are provided through a discussion of our analysis of existing data and literature and results from our six-country pilot study. Task 9.4 was carried out in four stages, including: a) an investigation into existing cross-national, European datasets to determine to what extent data and survey scales exist that attempt to measure these national attitudes within EU countries; b) a literature review, which synthesized research using existing items and item scales across these four themes; c) a six-country pilot study conducted in Croatia, Denmark, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain to test newly developed items on these attitudes; d) statistical analyses on the data from the pilot study to describe respondents’ attitudes towards these issues as well as to determine whether cross-country differences are evident. The main finding of the review is that the data available on these national attitudes varies considerably, as does the use of attitudinal data in social science literature. No existing data could be found that directly assesses national attitudes on a number of topics key to WP9. Hence, a questionnaire was developed to explore these attitudes. The pilot study, conducted between December 2014 and March 2015, obtained a selected sample of youth, all within tertiary education in the Humanities and Social Sciences, mostly without children, and mostly from higher-level socio-economic family backgrounds. Within this selected sample, cross-country differences in attitudes in the four themes explored were evident, reflecting the social embededdness of attitudes, particularly in relation to social and civil rights. However, cross-country differences were not evident across each of the themes. For example, while countries appear to be polarized between more traditional countries (i.e. Italy and Croatia) and less traditional countries (Spain and the Netherlands) in terms of the convergence of rights between heterosexual and homosexual couples, in all countries, there seems to be greater acceptance towards equality in social rights rather than civil rights. These findings help to fill important gaps in our current understanding of attitudes towards social and civil rights in contemporary Europe

This report derives from the work of partners involved in Work Package 9 of the FP7 programme bEUcitizen: Utrecht University (NL); the University of Zagreb (HR); Aalborg University (DK); Central European University Budapest (HU); the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (IS); The University of Turin (IT) and the University of Oviedo (ES). This report studies the way the complex dynamics of individual member states’ care, migration and employment policies impact on the citizenship status of migrant care workers. It also explores the extent to which migrant care workers from EU versus non-EU countries (i.e. third country nationals, TCNs) can exercise citizenship rights across the EU15 (Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain), new members (Croatia and Hungary) and non-EU states (Israel). Relation between the ‘right to receive care’ and migrant care work The categorisation of ‘migrant care worker models’ that we introduce – the ‘state-supported professional MCW model’ (DK, NL), the ‘state-supported domestic MCW model’, (ES, IT), and the ‘legalised-informality MCW model’ (HR, HU) – demonstrates under which conditions distinct patterns of migrant care work prevail. In countries where citizens have the right to receive professional LTC services, a well-developed formal LTC system exists in which care is provided by trained professional workers. In migration policies access is restricted for unqualified workers from third-countries and highly-skilled workers have privileged access (DK, NL). Migrant care work prevails in those countries where the family logic of care prevails and where citizens have the right to receive non-professional LTC (ES, IT). LTC systems in which care is provided in the informal sphere by non-professional workers may be characterised by a large underground economy, which may represent a favourable condition for the informal employment of MCWs as live-in workers. When the state supports care provision within the private household through the entitlement to cash-benefits schemes, hiring non-professional migrant care givers is facilitated (ES, IT). The absence of a well-developed professional LTC system seems to imply that less restrictions are imposed on the educational requirements for TCN migrant care workers, which also facilitates entry for low-skilled migrant care workers. In countries where the family logic is dominant, but where the state does not recognise citizens’ right to receive (non-professional) LTC by offering cash benefits, care receivers seem to be less likely to hire a migrant care worker (HR, HU). Access to citizenship rights depends on labour market position and residence status The type of work and/or residence permit a migrant care worker holds is key to understanding their access to social security benefits. Migrant care workers – except those entering the host country on a ‘highly-skilled worker’ status – are in a vulnerable position due to the (often) temporary character and/or irregular nature of their employment status, which makes it hard to gain financial independence, and subsequently a permanent residence status. Migrant care workers’ attainment of citizenship rights is therefore circumscribed by their position in the labour market. For migrant care workers, the way to receive social citizenship rights is narrowed down to being financially independent, making regular paid employment in the key to social citizenship.

This article deals with the changing relationship between work and motherhood during the first pregnancy among a group of twenty-one highly educated women living in Turin (Northern Italy), who were interviewed during the months before childbirth with their male partners, in 2010–2012. It aims to illustrate the tensions between the dominant ideas and ideals of motherhood (the ‘intensive mothering’ model) and the pressing demands of the changing labour market. The data shows that ideas, plans and decisions concerning childcare arrangements are highly gendered, being influenced by the expectations of partners, employers and colleagues and by a work culture which is not family friendly. Within this Italian social and political context, a mother-to-be faces a dilemma which is perceived as a private issue that concerns only herself. The new transition to parenthood forces women to redefine their identity and career in a highly gendered manner.

Introduction - interpreting the transformation of gender inequalities in southern Europe, Maria Jose Gonzalez et al women's flexible work and family responsibilities in Greece, Nota Kyriazis development and equality between women and men in the Portuguese labour market, Isabel Margarida Andre, Paulo Areosa Feio the family paradigm in the Italian welfare state, 1947-1996, Franca Bimbi social rights of women with children - lone mothers and poverty in Italy, Germany and Great Britain, Elisabeth Rasping gender in the reform of the Italian welfare state, Elisabeth Addis to what extend does it pay to be better educated? education and the work market for women in Italy, Francesca Battio, Paola Vila is the male provider model still in place? partnership formation in contemporary Spain, Marta Luxan et al separation and divorce in Spain, Montserrat Solsona et al political participation - exploring the gender gap in Spain, Laura Morales.

This article departs from previous comparative research on Spanish and Italian families and family policies, which focused on their similarities. Here the main thesis affirms that in the last two decades Spain has taken a new path away from the family/kinship model and towards a dual-earner family model. Different cohorts of Italians and Spaniards are compared with respect to their home-leaving behaviour, gender attitudes and their paid and unpaid work patterns. Italian inertia and Spanish changes are interpreted within the context of policies directed at small children, youth, conciliation policies and the frail elderly in order to evidence both countries divergences not only in family patterns but also in family policies. Spain's two-sided change towards a dual-earner family model is further valued in relation to the cases of France and Sweden and to the current economic crisis.

This paper analyses family changes in Italy and Spain from 1960 to 1990 and contrasts them with different Western European countries. From a cross-national perspective it is often assumed that southern societies display a different division of labour between welfare state, market and family than other Western European societies. On the other hand, Italy and Spain are experiencing serious demographic changes which could affect the role of families in these societies. In the paper we describe changes in the family formation, expansion and shrinking phases as well as changes in the gender division of work in the labour market and the current differences in solidarity relations within kinship. Out of this context we develop a specific southern family model and demonstrate that, despite the extremely rapid family changes, this process does not in all aspects lead to similarities between southern and western families. The most important particularities of the southern family model compared to western societies are the higher degree of cross-generational cohabitation, higher frequency of social contacts and help within kinship, stronger institutionalisation of marriage, lower female employment rate in the formal labour market, lower fertility rates, and more widespread family- and child-oriented attitudes. In addition, relations between generations are seen more in terms of obligations than in terms of individual choice. We consider three factors responsible for the reproduction of the southern family model and for avoiding a further European convergence. We conclude that the specific economic situation, the particularities of social policies and the family culture in Italy and Spain are important barriers to a further individualisation of family relations in these societies.

While an economy is always ‘embedded’ in society, the relationship between the two is undergoing profound changes in Europe, resulting in widespread instability which is emphasised by the current crisis. This book analyses these changes, and in particular pressures of intensifying international competition, globalization and financialization within Europe.

This article analyses the main shifts in the political and public discourse about families, children, elderly people, care needs and women-friendly policies in Italy over the last two decades. It shows that while family and gender relationships have become an ideologically highly charged public issue, policies at the practical level have remained largely stagnant, marginal and fragmentary. At the same time, important institutional changes (such as the constitutional reform of 2001, which introduced a form of federalism) have created new problems of governance. The authors argue that in the face of inadequate policies, the recourse of individuals and families to old (family solidarity) and new (migrant labour) solutions may cause new tensions and inequalities.

This work analyses in a historical and comparative perspective the relationship between the family and the welfare state in two Mediterranean countries: Italy and Spain. Two aims form the focus of the book. Firstly, to open the black box of the family in welfare state analysis, introducing a focus on inter-generational and kin relations. Secondly, to explain why the southern welfare states have offered very low support to families with children by taking into account several factors: the legacy of fascism, the role of the Church, and the specific role played by leftist parties in defining family policy as labour policy. -- Introduction -- PART ONE: ANALYSING FAMILIES AND THE WELFARE STATE -- Welfare State and Family Models -- State Policies Towards the Family -- PART TWO: ORIGINS OF STATE POLICIES TOWARDS THE FAMILY IN THE AUTHORITARIAN PERIOD -- Introduction: Defining Fascist-Era Family Models -- The Italian Case -- The Spanish Case -- PART THREE: THE DEMOCRATIC PERIOD: A FAMILY/KINSHIP SOLIDARITY MODEL -- Introduction: The Weakening of the Male Breadwinner -- The Political and Legal Context -- Family Changes and Family Solidarity -- Social Policy and Social Services for the Family -- The Cost of Children in Policy-Making Processes -- Conclusion Published version of EUI PhD thesis, 1999

While an economy is always ‘embedded’ in society, the relationship between the two is undergoing profound changes in Europe, resulting in widespread instability which is emphasised by the current crisis. This book analyses these changes, and in particular pressures of intensifying international competition, globalization and financialization within Europe.

This introduction identifies the main features of change (new patterns of gender equality) and continuity (legacies of traditional gender orders) in the labour market, the family, the welfare stare and in political participation. The authors reject foreign models of gender equality to assess the notion of change. Instead, they use a normative ideal-type, the Universal Care-giver Model, to which gender inequalities in different areas of southern European societies are compared. They conclude that the main requirements for approaching the Universal Care-giver Model are twofold: first, women have to renegotiate gender contracts within the family according to a more egalitarian gender division of labour; and, second, they have to push for the implementation of family-friendly policies (such as an employee- and family-oriented flexibility of working time)