Political dynamics and policy shifts against the background of the Barcelona objectives

Seminar paper from the year 2013 in the subject Sociology - Social System, Social Structure, Class, Social Stratification, grade: 1,3, Free University of Berlin (Soziologie), language: English, abstract: In March 2002 the Barcelona convention took the initiative to 'remove disincentives to female labour force participation and strive, taking into account the demand for childcare facilities and in line with national patterns of provision, to provide childcare by 2010 to at least 90% of children between 3 years old and the mandatory school age and at least 33% of children under 3 years of age' (EU Com 2008) The expansion of child care facilities are intended to increase parents' labor market participation, especially of women, and thus help to encourage gender equality. These Barcelona objectives were an integral part of the European Strategy for Growth and Employment (ibidem). In fact, female labour participation constantly increased during the last few years. Many European countries already show high enrollment rates for pre-school-aged children. But the supply of child care provision for under the age of three is in many European member states still underdeveloped (Esping-Anderson 2011: 126). This paper documents which initiatives and measures were taken to develop the child care facilities in three European countries: Austria, Italy and Germany as examples for a conservative welfare state (Esping-Anderson 1990) will be analyzed in comparative case studies. All three countries share an emphasis on the centrality of the family in targeting material needs and approving an institutional gendered division of paid and domestic work (Esping-Anderson 1999: 83). The focus of this work will be on the first age group of the Barcelona objectives, those under age three. The aim of the present paper is to find out explanatory factors for the still existent gap between demand and supply of child care provision for those under age three by considering nationally implemented laws and regulations as well as labor market developments and cultural preferences in all three countries. Finally, the question should therefore be asked: why Austria, Italy and Germany did not meet the Barcelona objectives to achieve at least a coverage rate of 33% of child care facilities for children under 3 years old? The following section gives a short descriptive overview of recent family policies in Austria, Germany and Italy in reference to the realization of the Barcelona objectives.