Yerkes, MA and Javornik, J (2019) Creating capabilities: Childcare policies in comparative perspective. Journal of European Social Policy, 29 (4). pp. 529-544. ISSN 0958-9287
Abstract
This article analyses childcare services in six countries, assessing this policy instrument’s potential to facilitate parents’ capabilities for arranging childcare in a way they have reason to value. It draws on Sen’s capability approach to conceptualize and assess childcare policy design across five key aspects of childcare provision (accessibility, availability, affordability, quality and flexibility) in a country-comparative perspective. The conceptualization of the multifaceted nature of childcare provides compelling insights into the complexity of comparing childcare services across countries. The ensuing analysis and comprehensive overview of national policies challenges the idea of a defamilialization policy cluster, which masks key distinctions between public and market service provision. The more nuanced conceptualization and operationalization of childcare policy design through the capability approach reveals parents’ real opportunities for arranging childcare and the varying effects of policy design across gender and class. In addition, it goes beyond implicit commodification assumptions and opens up space for parents’ potential desire for multiple care arrangement possibilities.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2018, the Author(s). This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). |
Keywords: | Capability, childcare, comparative analysis, defamilialism, family policy, gender and class |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Business (Leeds) > Work and Employment Relation Division (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 23 Nov 2018 12:04 |
Last Modified: | 25 Jun 2023 21:37 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | SAGE Publications |
Identification Number: | 10.1177/0958928718808421 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:139027 |