The impact of day-care services on mothers ’ employment, fertility and redistribution in Visegrad countries 30 th – 31

1. Families and female employment in party programmes for the last elections in the Visegrad countries Jana Válková Adrienn Györy The impact of day-care services on mothers’ employment, fertility and redistribution in Visegrad countries30th – 31st March, Budapest

2. Research Questionof thepaper in progress “What family policy measures do parliamentary parties in the Czech and Slovak Republic and Hungary propose in terms of the division of child caring responsibilities and the models of institutional care?”

3. Theoretical Background Policy-as-discourse approach assumptions: • governments are not responding to the problems but rather shape the problems and public opinion upon them • FOUCAULT, M. 1977. Discipline and Punish. The birth of the Prison. New York: Vintage Books. • BACCHI, C. 2000. Policy as Discourse: What does it mean? When does it get us? In: Discourse:studies in the cultural politics of education. Vol. 21, No. 1. • BACCHI, C. 2004. Policy and discourse: challenging the construction of affirmative action as preferential treatment. In: Journal of Europan Public Policy. 11:1.pp.128 – 146.

4. Method • Discourse Analysis • Documents analysed: Political programmes • Parliamentary parties in Hungary and the Czech and Slovak Republics

5. Male breadwinner – female carer Dual earner – female part-time carer Dual earner – state carer or Dual earner – marketised carer Dual earner – dual carer Analytic framework (1) Gendered Divisions of Labour, from Traditional to Idealised Source: Crompton (1999)

6. Analytic framework (2) Simplified overview of the institutional dimensions affected by the different goal-setting of public childcare system Source: Scheiwe and Willekens (2008)

7. Analytic framework (3) Gornick and Meyers (2003) indicate that reaching the idealised situation requires: • a radical transformation in gender relations; • changes on the labour market for the majority of men and large share of women; • innovative role of the state in parents’ rights protection and ensuring high-quality day care for children.

8. Analytic framework (4) • childcare measures – private/public nurseries, kindergartens, mini-nurseries, mini-kindergartens, private caregivers (“nannies”), mutual parental assistance, public family care, part-time attendance in nursery or kindergarten, mother and family centres; • leaves that have a clear impact on the division of care – long-term leaves, paternity leave; • advantages and special conditions that have a clear impact on the division of care – support for part-time jobs for caring mothers, support for part-job for caring parents, tax deductions of costs on private caregiver, allowance for childcare outside home

10. Findings for the Czech RepublicDiscourse on the division of child caring Source: Válková (2010)

11. Findings for the Czech RepublicDiscourse on the models of care Source: Válková (2010)

12. Findings for the Czech Republic Location of political parties within the framework Source: Válková (2010)

13. Hungary: Political parties and their electoral programmes • Threemaintopics in relation to day-careservices: • Increasefemaleemployment • Increasecapacitiesofday-careservices • Ensureequalopportunities Parties: Fidesz, Jobbik, LMP, MSZP

14. Findings for HungaryDiscourse on the division of child caring Source: own contribution

15. Findings for Hungary Discourse on the models of care Source: own contribution

16. Findings for Hungary Location of political parties within the framework Source: own contribution

17. Slovak Republic: Political parties and their electoral programmes • Main topicsrelated to day-careservices • Flexibleparentalleave • Family-friendlyemployment • Ensureday-careservices • Genderequality Parties: SDKÚ, KDH, Smer-SD, SNS

18. Findings for the Slovak RepublicDiscourse on the division of child caring Source: own contribution

19. Findings for the Slovak Republic Discourse on the models of care Source: own contribution

20. Findings for the Slovak RepublicLocation of political parties within the framework Source: own contribution

21. Conclusion (1) • In the Czech Republic right wing parties propose measures that involve market – private institutions whereas leftist parties support public institutions + outstanding Green Party with large mix of measures supporting grater involvement of state, market but also fathers in childcare

22. Conclusion (2) • In Hungary the Right-wing Party wants to support day care service but also the one and half income model whereas the Leftist party mentions day care as a mean of integration of Roma • Green Party supports both the state and the market involvement but provide no support for dual earner-dual carer model • The only country where no parliamentary political party supports the male breadwinner –female carer model

23. Conclusion (3) • In Slovakia the Right wing Parties and Christian democrats propose measures to flexibly arrange work and family life and public and private day care services • Social Democrats do not include family policy measures in their programme at all but propose to launch a discussion and preparation of the new family policy strategy and a new Act on Family

24. Conclusion (4) • Support of work-care reconciliation model in childcare in Hungary and the Czech Republic – family day care services and mutual parental assistance • In the Czech Republic and Slovakia – political parties that stand for male breadwinner model and dual earner-dual carer model whereas in Hungary they focus rather on day care services and flexible work arrangements

25. Conclusion (5) • Christian Democrats in Slovakia claim to support gender equality and equal division of child care work whereas in the Czech Republic the Christian Democratic discourse focuses more on the support to part-time jobs for mothers with no clear link to further involvement of fathers in childcaring

26. Questions?

27. Jana Válkováj.valkova@gmail.comAdrienn Györyadrienn.gyory@budapestinstitute.eu Contact