Thirteen Forming Australian families: gender ideologies and policy settings
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JaneMaree Maher
Abstract
This chapter shows how the normative underpinnings of policy reflect gendered assumptions about work and care in Australian families. Drawing on the key findings of the Families, Fertility and the Future study, the chapter shows how policy concerns about fertility rates were reflected in decisions about family configuration, and shows specifically how such considerations are differentiated along gender lines. The burden of work and care seems to be falling on women within this policy context, and this is demonstrated through views expressed that state that policies about combining work and care are about women’s concerns. The chapter also shows that less attention has been paid to the role that fathers play or are expected to play; a gendered preoccupation echoed in policy across several national and international contexts.
Abstract
This chapter shows how the normative underpinnings of policy reflect gendered assumptions about work and care in Australian families. Drawing on the key findings of the Families, Fertility and the Future study, the chapter shows how policy concerns about fertility rates were reflected in decisions about family configuration, and shows specifically how such considerations are differentiated along gender lines. The burden of work and care seems to be falling on women within this policy context, and this is demonstrated through views expressed that state that policies about combining work and care are about women’s concerns. The chapter also shows that less attention has been paid to the role that fathers play or are expected to play; a gendered preoccupation echoed in policy across several national and international contexts.
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
