ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the comparison of the policies and measures that are designed and implemented in the southern European welfare states with regard to the reconciliation of work and the family life. It briefly reviews some feminist contributions calling for the inclusion of a gender perspective in the classical debate on the welfare states. Feminist scholars have been critical of the Esping-Andersen typology of welfare regimes because of its gender-blindness. There are similarities in the trajectories and characteristics of Southern European states in regard to the promotion of a better balance between paid work and family life, but certain singularities need to be pointed out, too. The growth in the provision of formal support to families in Portugal seems to be emerging more as a practical response to the prevalence of a dual full-time earner model and less as a strategy of anticipating those needs or as a reflection of any strong commitment towards defamilialisation.
