ABSTRACT
Esping-Anderson's (1990) work 'The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism' categorized welfare state regimes according to whether state benefits are provided as citizen's rights or not. He measured the quality and nature of the social rights of citizenship by the level of de-commodification of the labour force - 'the degree to which individuals or families can uphold a socially acceptable standard of living independent of market participation' (Esping-Anderson 1990: 37). The extent that workers can leave the labour market through choice depends on the generosity and universality of social rights. But by equating citizenship with paid work, Esping Anderson's conceptualisation is gender blind. As Shaver and Bradshaw (1995) point out, whilst the concept of de-commodification makes sense for women fully engaged in the labour market, it does not make sense for the majority, notably mothers, who are not. Rather, the concept of de-commodification assumes the male breadwinner family, and that women and mothers outside the labour market are dependent upon the family - upon men and fathers.
