Search results

The purpose of this paper is to focus on two welfare state regimes with differing degrees of de‐familialisation strategies, Germany and Sweden, to study whether and how women's career interruptions influence their labour market prospects. By comparing women with continuous careers to those with discontinuous careers due to: parental leave or homemaking; unemployment; or other reasons, the authors explore the support for the skill depreciation hypothesis and signalling theory. Depending on the type of welfare state regime, the authors expect women to be subject to varying degrees of career punishment for time spent out of the labour market.

Cox proportional hazard regression models of the transition rate of an upward or downward occupational move among women in the labour market were estimated.

Focusing on upward career moves, the results show no significant relationship between a career interruption and upward occupational moves in Germany. In Sweden, the longer the accumulated duration of family leave, the lower the transition rate to an upward move. Overall occupational mobility is higher in Sweden, and in a policy regime where almost all women work, extended leaves may have a more negative effect on career prospects than in Germany, where many mothers drop out of the labour force altogether. In Germany, on the other hand, the authors find traces of unemployment to be scarring, as the risk of downward moves increases with increased unemployment experience.

The paper explores the impact of policies in shaping women's career trajectories and critically examines the often‐cited skill depreciation hypothesis.

The objective of this chapter is twofold: (1) to analyse meanings and practices regarding the work-family balance of fathers from different social and cultural backgrounds and (2) to explore how infancy experts and workplace cultures can influence the paid work and childcare reconciliation practices of native and immigrant fathers in Italy, in particular, from the point of view of fathers making the transition to parenthood. Little attention is paid to the role of infancy experts and workplace cultures in shaping fathers’ reconciliation perspectives. Moreover, little research has been dedicated to parenting practices among immigrant families from the fathers’ point of view. We investigate how parenthood is perceived and experienced by native and immigrant fathers, focussing on cultural differences with regard to beliefs about gender roles, children’s needs and childbearing. Our work is based on a qualitative analysis of 61 qualitative interviews with fathers, born in Italy, Romania, Peru and Morocco living in (the north of) Italy, carried out between 2010 and 2015. The results show how both infancy experts and workplace cultures tend to reinforce the widespread hegemonic ideals on ‘good father as provider’ both for natives and for immigrant fathers, despite their different socio-cultural backgrounds.

The purpose of this editorial is to examine sociological research on the possibilities and pitfalls of social policies for mothers' employment participation, and identify research gaps in the existing literature. The paper aims to focus mainly on the implications of parental leave schemes on mothers' employment participation.

The editorial discusses the inconsistencies in the current sociological debate on the impact of social policies on mothers' employment.

The relationship between parental leave policies and women's participation in the work force is complex. The literature shows a disagreement about whether such policies mitigate family‐related career disadvantages, or in fact, contribute to gender inequality in the labour market. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the interplay between social policies and mothers' labour market participation, and national and cross‐national variation in the consequences of childbirth on women's labour market participation the editorial points at the several aspects that need to be investigated in greater depth by further research. The editorial emphasizes the necessity of conducting in‐depth international comparisons in order to account for between‐country variations as well as within‐country variations. Furthermore, the symbolic nature of family policy must not be neglected.

The editorial identifies research gaps to be addressed by further research.