ABSTRACT
The explanation approaches to cross-national differences in women's labour force participation often come from the more recent international discourse in social policy research. This chapter explains the differences with country-specific variations in welfare state policy. Collective patterns of women's labour force participation, however, are primarily regarded as an immediate reaction to government policy rather than something requiring a more complex explanation. The chapter presents theoretical approaches that provide starting points for an analysis and a comparison of the development of women's labour force participation in the context of the interrelations of social structures and institutions. As the approach places social phenomena in their societal context it provides important starting points also for cross-national comparison of labour market practice. John MacInnes explains cross-national differences with respect to the differing degrees of integration of men and women in the labour market with the help of a patriarchal-theoretical approach.
