Third ISA Forum of Sociology (July 10-14, 2016)

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Family-Friendly Policies and Gender (In)Equality in Paid and Unpaid Work

RC06 Family Research (host committee)
RC32 Women in Society

Language: English

We propose a regular session for the Committee on Family Research (RC06), jointly with RC32 Women in Society. By assembling up to five papers on the impact of “new” aspects of work-family reconciliation policies on gender (in)equalities, it will encourage a stimulating discussion of the future potential of such policies. 
Over the past decade, family research has been increasingly concerned with exploring how policies influence the gendered division of paid and unpaid work. Although  research has documented some short- and medium-term effects of work-family reconciliation policies, such as parental leave or child care provision, progress towards gender equality as a result of existing policies has been slow. Most studies have focused on broad policy indicators at the national level rather than examining specific policy designs and packages. Moreover, due to data availability, some policy areas have received more attention than others. 
This session seeks to advance the academic debate on family policy and research by exploring the conceptualization or outcomes of relatively “new” policies or under-researched aspects of “old” policies which may promote greater gender equality. Examples for such policy aspects include inter alia employer-provided policies, legal quotas for women on advisory boards, flexibility aspects of parental leave policies, or qualitative aspects of child care provision. We are inviting proposals for presentations that conceptualize or empirically investigate the consequences of such policies for gender equity. Methodologically, promising approaches for exploring policy impact include evaluations using longitudinal data, insightful comparisons within and across countries, as well as smaller-scale program interventions. Posters: