ABSTRACT
International debates on social security arrangements are characterized by the widely-held assumption that there has been a change in thinking about social risks. This change in thinking follows considerable alterations in social risks themselves, following major developments in employment, such as the increase in service sector employment and the simultaneous decrease in industrial and manufacturing employment, the rise in part-time and temporary work as well as problems of structural unemployment, which have created considerable changes in social risks (Elchardus, Marx, and Pelleriaux 2003; Esping-Andersen and Sarasa 2002; Hacker 2004; Taylor-Gooby 2004). One of the most prominent changes has been the issue of work-life boundaries as we have seen in Chapter 5. As a result of the decline in nuclear families (including a rise in lone parenthood and increasing divorce rates) the rise in female labour market participation and the increase in women’s participation in education, the work-life boundary has become significantly blurred. The blurring of this boundary contributes to an overall increased risk of poverty and inequality (Taylor-Gooby 2004). The focus in this chapter is on the childcare risk and if diversification in childcare policy across Europe results in gender inequality. In particular, we will illustrate issues of gender inequality by comparing outcomes of childcare arrangements in the Netherlands and the UK within a European context.
