ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book compares the structure and outcomes of the policy environment around paid work and care-giving for lone mothers across twenty countries. It defines social rights for women qua women, as those which are directed towards altering the balance of gendered power within individual and societal relations, a focus on the social rights attached to paid work and care-giving. The book contributes to filling a gap apparent within feminist comparative research, and indeed, within 'mainstream' comparative welfare state research more generally; that of any rigorous investigation of the outcomes of social policies, and of the relationship between policy inputs and outcomes. It examines the outcomes for lone mothers in respect of activity status and economic well-being in each of the twenty countries, and assesses the degree of coherence between those outcomes and the configuration of the paid-work and care-giving policy environments.
