Post-Communist Family Policy Outline § Look at policy changes § Place PL and CR into typologies § Ask whether these policies are in line with the needs and aspirations of women § Look at the results § Explain these changes State Socialist Model § Women forced to work § But maintain full responsibility for the household § Women work, men have careers § Relatively high access to daycare § Maternity leaves and additional maternity leaves Decrease in Access to Daycare § Declined in both countries for children under 3 § As nursery schools have been closed down, more children 2-3 years old are attending kindergartens in the Czech Republic § There has been a decline in kindergarten spaces, but not the percentage of children attending, as fertility rates have dropped Comparison on daycare Increase in Parental Leaves § Maternity leaves have remained the same in all countries, but for a short while increased in Poland § The benefit level has decreased but only changed slightly § They are shorter in Poland § Parental leaves have been extended by one year in the Czech Republic (now 3-tier system) § They are means-tested in Poland § Only Hungary has an income replacement parental leave Parental Leaves in CE No Incentive for Men to Stay at Home § Were not given benefits until after 1989 § Were not given the right to return to their jobs until much later (1996 in PL, 2001 in CR) § Level of pay too low to give economic incentives for men (Hungarian case) § No months reserved for men § In Hungary they have the best incentives and greatest # of men at home (around 5% which is similar to Denmark) § Hungary shows that policies matter, as attitudes there are the most conservative toward gender roles What types of policies? § CR? § PL? § SK? § H? The Czech Case § Short, but generous maternity leave (=conservative) § Long, but low-paid parental leave (=conservative) § Lack of Access to childcare for children under 3 (conservative) § Slovakia similar Poland § Shorter maternity leaves (4 months instead of 6) = liberal § Means-tested parental leaves = liberal § Less support for childcare = liberal § 33.4% of children 3-6 attending kindergartens compared to 87% in the CR in 2002 § Polish authors see the country as conservative and influenced by the Church because they do not make comparisions Hungary § Relatively high access to daycare § Only slight decrease in access to nursery schools for children under 3 (moderately degenderizing) § Only country with parental leaves as % of income § Thus, only country with incentives for fathers to stay at home, but moderate incentive § Again, moderately degenderizing § Although the goal of the government is to increase childbirths, not increase gender equality Goes against the Needs of Women? § At theoretical level, since anti-feminist, but changing § At the concrete, daily level, women feel they must work, they find it fulfilling and want men to help out more at the home Goes Against the Aspirations? Theoretical Level § Central European still support traditional gender roles in general § But attitudes are changing § Younger are less supportive Attitudes at the Theoretical Level: Against Changing Roles Aspirations and Daily Level § Women need to work § Women feel they should work § Work gives them satisfaction and independence § They believe the state should support families and men should help out more Needs: Women must work to support their family (female respondents, ISSP, 1994) Aspirations: Both spouses should contribute to the family income (female respondents, ISSP, 2002) Concrete, Daily Level: Daily level § Support for belief that men should help out more at home (but large gender gap) § Increasing belief that working women can have good relations with children § But communist legacy still influences, so levels of support are relatively low § High support for state benefits Result § Women have not left the labor market § But they have left the reproductive market Women as Pecentage of all Working Adults 18-65 Low Birthrates (Eurostats) Why Did they Choose these Policies? § Anti-Feminist Communist Legacy § Economic pressures? § Institutional similarities § Institutional differences Anti-Feminist Ideological Legacy § Forced to work + continued double burden of domestic and paid labor § Association of feminism with communism § Anti-feminist propaganda § Inability to organize around interests § Prestige of the family Economic Pressures? § Calculation that it was cheaper to have mothers stay at home than pay for daycare § Budgetary pressures during the transformation § Calculations do not take into account loss of tax revenues from working working § Nor do they take into account future tax revenues, as women give up their careers Institutional Legacy: Explaining Similarities (refamilialization) § Problems with nursery schools § Inheritance of two-tier caring system § Health ministry control of nurseries § Inheritance of two-tier parental leave system Institutional Explanation of Difference § Poland had lower access to kindergartens already under communist rule § Poland had means-tested additional maternity leaves already under communist rule § So these policies have continued