Gender and Welfare State Regimes focuses on the interrelationships between aspects of the welfare state and labour market policies in structuring and transforming gender relations across a broad spectrum of countries. The book examines the construction of gender in various government welfare policies and illustrates how the specific qualities of the welfare state reinforce or counteract gender inequalities. The book argues that policy variation across the countries surveyed can be attributed to a variety of factors, including differing strategies and demands of the women's movements, the organisational strength of labour movements and industrial relations frameworks, the constellation of parties supporting equality measure, traditional values and state structures. Series Gender and Politics edited by Professor Karen Beckwith at the Department of Political Science, College of Wooster and Professor Joni Lovenduski, Department of Politics, University of Southampton.

This book is intended for scholars and students of political science ̧public policy ̧sociology ̧gender studies and social policy.

Gender equality has been one of the defining projects of European welfarestates. It has proven an elusive goal, not just because of political opposition but also due to a lack of clarity in how to best frame equality and take account of family-related considerations. This wide-ranging book assembles the most pertinent literature and evidence to provide a critical understanding of how contemporary state policies engage with gender inequalities.

How can mainstream models and classifications be used in analyzing welfare states and gender? What sorts of modifications to traditional theory are required? These and other questions are addressed in this book - the first to synthesize the insights of feminist and mainstream research in examining the impact of gender on welfare state analysis and outcomes. The text also highlights the effect of welfare state policies on women and men. The international and interdisciplinary contributors approach the subject on two levels. First, they test the applicability of mainstream frameworks to new areas in analyzing gender. Second, they highlight possible reconceptualizations and innovative frameworks designed to provide gender-based analyses. These approaches are combined with a strong comparative component, focusing on a cross-section of countries of major interest in welfare state research.

"Examines the political and social influences behind the creation of the postrevolutionary Mexican welfare state in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s"--Provided by publisher.

This book focuses on developments in the welfare states of the ten Central and Eastern European EU member states in the transformation process some 20 years after the end of state socialism. It also explores the shifts in gender relationships and inequalities, and tries to depict the interdependencies between these two processes. The contributors to this volume tackle the following main questions: how far are welfare states and gender regimes in these countries comparable with the types found in Western and Southern Europe? To what extend were traditional institutions and practices preserved under the new circumstances resulting from the system change? How have gender relations been affected by EU accession and welfare state change through the transformation process?

Few discussions in modern social science have occupied as much attention as the changing nature of welfare states in western societies. Gosta Esping-Andersen, one of the most distinguished contributors to current debates on this issue, here provides a new analysis of the character and role of welfare states in the functioning of contemporary advanced western societies. Esping-Andersen distinguishes several major types of welfare state, connecting these with variations in the historical development of different western countries. Current economic processes, the author argues, such as those moving towards a post-industrial order, are not shaped by autonomous market forces but by the nature of states and state differences. Fully informed by comparative materials, this book will have great appeal to everyone working on issues of economic development and post-industrialism. Its audience will include students and academics in sociology, economics and politics.

Contributors address questions about gender equality in a Confucian context across a wide and varied social policy landscape, from Korea and Taiwan, where Confucian culture is deeply embedded, through China, with its transformations from Confucianism to communism and back, to the mixed cultural environments of Hong Kong and Japan.

The Handbook provides a broad introduction to Swedish politics, and how Sweden's political system and policies have evolved over the past few decades.

'Globalization', institutions and welfare regimes -- The challenge of globalization -- Globalization and welfare regime change -- Towards workfare? : changing labour market policies -- Labour market policies in social democratic and continental regimes -- Population ageing, GEPs and changing pensions systems -- Pensions policies in continental and social regimes -- Conclusion : welfare regimes in a liberalizing world.