Hakim Abstract

"What Do Women Really Want? Crafting Family Policies for All Women"

Until recently, the focus of social policy in the European Union, and perhaps in all OECD countries, has been the elimination of the entrenched sexism and racism that pervaded all labor markets, and replacing that with a new ethos of equal opportunities for all in meritocratic economies.  Arguably, this has now been achieved, and the focus has moved to immigration, declining fertility and aging societies. But whatever the current concern, full-time homemakers tend to be left out of the picture by policy-makers and academics alike. Children are dealt with exclusively by childcare policies for their working mothers. One notable feature of current research in demography and the sociology of the family is the absence of any central guiding theory on the relative importance of childbearing in women's (and men's) lives.  Family policy debates are constrained by the fear of promoting pro-natalist policies, in case this is linked to eugenics and Nazi Germany policies which cast a long shadow in Europe.  Hence Sweden insists that it has never had pro-natalist policies, only ‘gender equality’ policies.

Preference theory is a new theory that helps to make sense of current debates, explain current and future patterns of employment and fertility among women, and develop social policies that address the interests of all women and all families.  It offers empirically-based statements about the relative priority women accord to market work and careers versus family work and private life (corresponding to three distinct models of the family), and states that women are heterogeneous in their lifestyle preferences, to a greater extent than are men.  Preference theory also specifies the historical context in which these core values become important predictors of behavior. It notes that five historical changes collectively produce a qualitatively new scenario for women in rich modern societies in the 21st century, giving them options that were not previously available to them. The theory provides a basis for analyzing the biases embedded in most current social policies, which are focused on working women and careerists to the exclusion of full-time parents and part-time workers.

Declining fertility is prompting a revaluation of motherhood and reproductive work, and a change in emphasis in public policy. The bias towards support for working mothers needs to be balanced by new measures to support home-centered women as well.  Many family-friendly employment policies are of wide to appeal to all workers, and could potentially be made even less discriminatory.  However the emphasis on publicly subsidized childcare which benefits only work-centered women, and some adaptive women, should be replaced by a diversity of policies supporting all groups of women to an equal degree, even if in different ways. Examples are given of policies that are flexible enough to offer benefits for all women, such as the hugely popular homecare allowance in Finland and Norway, and cafeteria employer benefits.