This book explores the highly topical issue of the gender divide of welfare. A common characteristic of welfare states of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries is a profound gender division of paid and unpaid work and care. This affects women's position in the family, the labour market and their access to social citizenship. Gender, Welfare State and the Market extends the discussion about the interrelationship between the welfare state, market and family and its impact on women's economic, social and political (in)dependence in the modern western welfare societies. The book goes beyond the narrow focus on the labour market - welfare state arrangement to explore the inter-relationship between production and social reproduction, paid and unpaid work and care withinthe framework of different welfare states. The volume specifically focuses on the shifting gender balance of employment and the restructuring of social care provision. Moreover, using feminist critiques of welfare state research, the book brings gender-specific as well as gender-relational approaches to the analysis of social citizenship, and the importance of the family and other non-public agencies for the provision of social care.

Gender, Welfare State and Market reveals that any analysis must take into account the care work provided informally or unpaid, in order to understand how welfare policies contribute to gender inequality in the family, labour market and with respect to social citizenship. This volume represents the present state of the art in theoretical debate in welfare state scholarship, drawing on research from western Europe, North America and Japan; it therefore provides a valuable balance of breadth and detail: from the broad international overview to comparisons between specific welfare states and national case studies. It will be a necessary resource for anyone involved in policy making, or research in economics, politics, sociology or gender studies.