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Instead of focusing on a crisis for the welfare state, this chapter examines a contemporary crisis threat for which the welfare state in the form of family-friendly social policies may provide the answer. The crisis in question is a serious decline in advanced country fertility rates, which has left most OECD cou n tries with birthrates well below those required to replace existing population levels. The analysis shows that in the past few decades the world has almost literally been ‘turned upside down’, with fertility rates now highest in countries where cultural v a lues are least traditional and where public policies are most encouraging to female labour force participation. The chapter also analyses the effect of a variety of family-friendly policies and shows that the provision of childcare places is the measure m o st vital to raising advanced nation fertility levels.

This chapter considers the area of personal work relations, i.e., relations between employers and workers which are not mediated through the formal institutions of workers' collective representation. It argues that the main trend during the period under review was one of ‘de-standardization’ of those relations, initially through a straightforward process of de-regulation and later, under ‘New Labour’, through more sophisticated legal and regulatory mechanisms. The main aim of this policy, it is argued, was to promote managerial adaptability, i.e., the ability of employers to respond to changes in demand or methods of production. However, de-standardization was compatible with, and perhaps even required, some cautious conferment of new rights on workers, for example, in the area of ‘family-friendly’ policies. On the other hand, this policy caused difficulties for the government in relation to more far-reaching European proposals for individual rights, whether stemming from the European Court of Human Rights or the institutions of the European Community.

Mothers who achieve the highest position in their field are wonderful models. Mothers serving as high-court judges, university presidents, distinguished medical scientists, and corporate executives give courage to those starting up the ladder. They affirm that it is possible to have a family and a career, and they tell us that their lives are richer for having succeeded at both. This chapter suggests a family-friendly field where fathers play alongside mothers. To do this, critical workplace changes are needed to remove the institutional barriers that sideline women. These family-friendly policies are good business. They attract the best and brightest faculty and graduate students and allow organizations to maintain the competitive edge. The chapter provides transformative solutions, with particular attention to the make-or-break years when women are most likely to drop down or drop out.

This chapter explains why equal pay and family-friendly policies cannot close the gender wealth gap. Instead, it argues the need for new policies that address the two primary causes of the gender wealth gap: the motherhood wealth tax and women's lack of access to the wealth escalator. These new policy directions include providing paid family leave, integrating caregiving into the wealth escalator, and engaging men in caretaking. It also argues for the advantages inherent in providing additional mechanisms for supporting wealth-building opportunities for single parents, improving women's access to low-interest loans, increasing opportunities for women's entrepreneurship, expanding the definition of assets as codified in divorce laws, and decoupling affordable health care from full-time employment.

This chapter examines difficulties of reconciling work and family demands in six European countries; looks at divergences in experiences among different sectors of the workforce, different family types, and household employment patterns; and gauges the extent to which such experiences are mediated by different institutional structures. It considers the extent to which successful conciliation between paid work and family life may be facilitated by ‘family-friendly’ social and employment policy and explores alternative explanations of cross-country variations, focusing on national variations in the system of employment regulation. Finally, it examines whether there are general trends towards higher or lower levels of work-family conflict.

This chapter advances the argument that the Catholic social tradition, which includes the work of feminist theologians and ethicists, can point toward greater equity for women in the academy. This chapter also discusses the continuing need to create more inclusive campus communities for LGBTQ persons. The author contends that the issues that women face because of their gender and the LGBTQ community's ongoing struggle for equality are not the same and warrant more extensive treatment than can be offered in this book. However, the chapter aims to offer some insights about how CST can promote the dignity, equality, and full participation of women and LGBTQ persons in Catholic higher education. Ways in which Catholic colleges and universities have promoted equity and full participation of women and LGBTQ persons on their campuses are considered. The concluding section confronts the problem of sexual violence in campus, which the author contends is a severe affront to a person’s autonomy and right to fully participate in a community.

This chapter describes the new set of filters that senior women scientists and engineers often encounter as they establish their careers, achieve tenure, and garner reputation in their profession. Based on research, successful women scientists and engineers do not have the same access to space, awards, students, and perks as their male peers. Moreover, balancing career and family, gaining credibility and respectability, and low numbers stand out as major issues for women scientists. As such, senior scientists articulated policies for individual faculty, institutions, and the profession. Taken together, family-friendly policies, mentoring for junior faculty, followed by monitoring to ensure that the training is carried out, would improve the institutional climate for junior women.

This chapter discusses changes in the supports for working parents in Britain. Some of the notable changes in these policies are the doubling of paid maternity leave, the introduction of paid paternity leave, universality of preschool education for three and four year olds, the expansion of support for child care, and the rise in part-time or flexible hours. The chapter also considers the government's accomplishments in terms of family-friendly policies.