8th ESPAnet Conference 2010Social Policy and the Global Crisis:
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13. Family Policies and the Reconciling of Paid Work and Care
Changing family life and challenges to social policy
One of the greatest challenges in the years ahead is the increasing diversity of family structures in which children are raised. With rising rates of divorce, consensual unions, births outside marriage, lone parenthood and step families, many children live at least part of their childhood in a family structure different from a traditional nuclear family. The changing nature of family life has meant that parenting roles, expectations and responsibilities are in transition. This applies also to the role of the welfare states. Family changes and transitions take place within the wider structure of a legal framework put in place to regulate the social lives of citizens. On one hand, responsibility for children is not based on marriage or partnership but rather on parental obligation towards children. On the other hand, new partners in consensual unions may not have (legal) maintenance responsibilities, yet welfare states, by means-testing benefits, can make implicit assumptions that they do. The changes in family structures, together with the problems of achieving economic security and balancing work and caring responsibilities, create a new social risk for modern welfare states and challenge social policy to develop relevant and updated ways to support families with children.
In this stream, we are interested in the consequences of family change, importantly both at the individual and the societal level. Correspondingly, we ask how partnership breakup affects the economic position and labour supply of both parents and what support family policy affords to separated parents to reconcile work and family life. Further, we are interested in the ways the responsibilities of raising and providing for children are distributed in separated families and new consensual unions.
The general objective of this stream is to increase understanding of how welfare states are able to rise to the challenge of supporting changing family forms and what are the economic and social consequences of family change. Both theoretical and empirical papers are expected. Thematically, this stream is related to the family policy stream.
Convenors:
| Ph.D., Docent Anita Haataja | Ph.D. Mia Hakovirta | |
| Social Insurance Institution (Kela), Research Department Finland Tel: +358 50 583 8594 E-mail: Anita.Haataja@kela.fi |
Department of Social Policy University of Turku Finland Tel. +358 2 3336213 E-mail: miahak@utu.fi |
Thursday, 14:00-16:00 Room 02, Session 13./A
Presentations:
1. Dr. Ann Marie Gray: Lone parents in Northern Ireland? [abstract] [paper]
2. Prof. Daniel Meyer & Dr. Christine Skinner & Dr. Jaqueline Davidson: Child Maintenance Obligations, Complex Families and Equity for Children [abstract] [paper]
3. Dr. Alexandra Skew & Tina Haux: Lone parents across the EU 27 countries [abstract] [paper]
4. Dr. Carina Marten: Mom Cares and Dad Pays? The Institutionalised Role of Mothers and Fathers in Post-Separated Families [abstract] [paper]
Contributed papers:
1. Heejung Chung: Working hours, autonomy, and subjectively perceived tension between work and life, a multi-level approach [abstract] [paper]
Thursday, 16:30-18:30 Room 02, Session 13./B
Presentations:
1. Karoliina Majamaa: Childcare Help as a Form of Intergenerational Support [abstract] [paper]
2. Miia Saarikallio (Doctoral Student) & Dr. Heikki Hiilamo: A social and economic profile of mothers with children taken into custody [abstract] [paper]
3. Prof. Barbara Hobson & Dr. Judit Takács & Susanne Fahlén (Doctoral Student): Tensions in Aspirations, Agency and Capabilities to Achieve a Work Family Balance: Two cases: Sweden and Hungary [abstract] [paper]
Contributed papers:
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Friday, 9:00-11:00 Room 02, Session 13./C
Presentations
1. Dr. Paul Kershaw: Commodification, Defamilialization and Decommodification: Advancing the Gendering of Comparative Welfare Studies for 20 OECD Countries [abstract] [paper]
2. Regina Ahrens: All that Glitters is not Gold – Sustainability Discourse in German Family Policy [abstract] [paper]
3. Prof. Trudie Knijn & Barbara Da Roit: Family policies, flexible work relations and work-life balance in the Netherlands in comparative perspective [abstract] [paper]
4. Dr. Joris Ghysels, Researcher Josefine Vanhille & Dr. Gerlinde Verbist: Compensating for child care [abstract] [paper]
Contributed papers:
1. Ruta Braziene: Reconcilliation of family and work roles in Lithuania: policy implications and empirical evidence [abstract] [paper]
Important dates
17 November 2009 = Call for stream convenors
18 December 2009 = Deadline for stream convenors
25 January 2010 = Call for abstracts
29 March 2010 = Deadline for abstract submission
3 May 2010 = Registration starts
6 June 2010 = Reduced fee application deadline
21 June 2010 24:00 (CET) = Early bird registration deadline
13 August 2010 24:00 (CET) - Deadline for submission of papers
16 August 2010 - Deadline for Registrations and payments
Registration fee is 160 Euros for early birds, 210 Euros for late birds. Central and Eastern European PhD students and professionals can apply for a reduced fee of 60 Euros at info@espanet2010.net until 6th June.
Registration opens on the 3rd May, early bird registration closes on the 21th June at 24:00 (CET).
Theme of the Conference
The theme of ESPAnet’s 2010 Annual Conference is the social consequences of the global financial crisis and its differential impact across Europe. The main questions for consideration include:
How is the crisis affecting already existing inequalities? How are different social classes and groups, especially those in poverty, affected by the crisis? What are the adaptable capacities of the different “worlds of welfare”? Does the intensifying social vulnerability lead to the re-structuring of the programs to provide more security? How far have new programs been developed, and how far have new questions of social policy and welfare been opened up by the crisis?
We would like to broaden the horizon of social policy analysis and see global environmental concerns taken into account: How far are responses to the crisis re-thinking the role of the national and international/global state and the role of the European Union in creating economically, socially and environmentally sustainable societies?