Eleven Gender and New Labour: after the male breadwinner model?
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Gillian Pascall
Abstract
New Labour’s accession marked a changed in government assumptions in gender. Under the previous Labour government, health and education legislation had given significant citizenship rights to women and men equally while the 1970s brought equal opportunities and sex discrimination legislation. These brought women into employment and public life, but the male breadwinner model of the family remained through the aspects of Thatcher and Major government policy until 1997 where women were able to join the labour market, become Members of the Parliament (MP) and ministers, but were not to expect government support in gender relations at home, or through any national system of childcare. The New Labour government introduced new ideas on gender, with more liberal attitude to varied family forms, including a strong expectation that women’s responsibilities lay in employment as well as parenting, that they should be expected to support themselves and their children and pay for their own pensions. This chapter looks at the way in which New Labour in the UK has moved away from the male breadwinner model of welfare policy, and at the impact that recent developments have had on policies on employment, care, the division of labour and time, income and the political process. It shows how, in comparison with the more gender-friendly social democratic ‘Nordic’ model of gender policy, New Labour’s continued commitment to the neo-liberal model has compromised its achievement on gender equality.
Abstract
New Labour’s accession marked a changed in government assumptions in gender. Under the previous Labour government, health and education legislation had given significant citizenship rights to women and men equally while the 1970s brought equal opportunities and sex discrimination legislation. These brought women into employment and public life, but the male breadwinner model of the family remained through the aspects of Thatcher and Major government policy until 1997 where women were able to join the labour market, become Members of the Parliament (MP) and ministers, but were not to expect government support in gender relations at home, or through any national system of childcare. The New Labour government introduced new ideas on gender, with more liberal attitude to varied family forms, including a strong expectation that women’s responsibilities lay in employment as well as parenting, that they should be expected to support themselves and their children and pay for their own pensions. This chapter looks at the way in which New Labour in the UK has moved away from the male breadwinner model of welfare policy, and at the impact that recent developments have had on policies on employment, care, the division of labour and time, income and the political process. It shows how, in comparison with the more gender-friendly social democratic ‘Nordic’ model of gender policy, New Labour’s continued commitment to the neo-liberal model has compromised its achievement on gender equality.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of tables and boxes v
- List of abbreviations vi
- Notes on contributors viii
- Introduction 1
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Current developments
- A year of transition in post-compulsory education and training 11
- Planning for infrastructure and housing – is sustainable development a dream? 35
- Towards a new pension settlement? Recent pension reform in the UK 51
- Climate change and climate change policy in the UK 2006–07 69
- Policy for older people in Wales 93
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Current debates
- Flexibility or flexploitation? Problems with work–life balance in a low-income neighbourhood 113
- The role of confidence and identity in civic participation: exploring ethnic group differences 133
- The problem of riches: is philanthropy a solution or part of the problem? 151
- Policy from the pitch? Soccer and young refugee women in a shifting policy climate 173
- Social citizenship in post-liberal Britain and post-corporatist Germany: curtailed, fragmented, streamlined, but still on the agenda 191
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Engendering policy and politics
- Gender and New Labour: after the male breadwinner model? 215
- A review of engendering policy in the EU 241
- Forming Australian families: gender ideologies and policy settings 263
- Working fathers as providers and carers: towards a new conceptualisation of fatherhood 279
- Index 297
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of tables and boxes v
- List of abbreviations vi
- Notes on contributors viii
- Introduction 1
-
Current developments
- A year of transition in post-compulsory education and training 11
- Planning for infrastructure and housing – is sustainable development a dream? 35
- Towards a new pension settlement? Recent pension reform in the UK 51
- Climate change and climate change policy in the UK 2006–07 69
- Policy for older people in Wales 93
-
Current debates
- Flexibility or flexploitation? Problems with work–life balance in a low-income neighbourhood 113
- The role of confidence and identity in civic participation: exploring ethnic group differences 133
- The problem of riches: is philanthropy a solution or part of the problem? 151
- Policy from the pitch? Soccer and young refugee women in a shifting policy climate 173
- Social citizenship in post-liberal Britain and post-corporatist Germany: curtailed, fragmented, streamlined, but still on the agenda 191
-
Engendering policy and politics
- Gender and New Labour: after the male breadwinner model? 215
- A review of engendering policy in the EU 241
- Forming Australian families: gender ideologies and policy settings 263
- Working fathers as providers and carers: towards a new conceptualisation of fatherhood 279
- Index 297
