Work-life balance has been a central theme of the EU gender equality framework and has been promoted through both 'hard' and 'soft' components. Although the EU concern in promoting work-life balance has been more to increase employment and economic productivity than to promote gender equality, all Member States have now established standards in accordance with the EU regulations. Statutory leave arrangements are a key component of work-life balance policies and they vary significantly across Member States with different welfare regime traditions. This study examines the transposition of EU Directives and the implications of the European Employment Strategy for leave arrangements across the UK, Denmark, France and Spain as exemplars of four welfare regimes.
There has been an increasing academic interest in understanding the dynamics of social policy in the Middle East and developing a conceptual 'model' to account for the particular characteristics of welfare arrangements in the countries of the region. While part of this framework, Turkey represents an exceptional case due to the Europeanization processes the country is undergoing in various policy areas, including social policy. The influence of the European Union on the shape of Turkish social policy, as illustrated by the government's recent reforms in the labour market and social security domains, is hereby used to outline the position of Turkey vis-à-vis both the Southern European welfare regime and the Middle Eastern pattern. This article seeks to assess the dynamics of Turkish social policy in light of the country's political, and socio-economic dynamics, as well as the external influence exerted by the EU and international financial institutions. The aim is to examine Turkish welfare arrangements in a comparative manner and consider its suitability with reference to either of the two models. Looking at major trends in social security and the labour market, the article argues for a Turkish 'hybrid' model embodying the characteristics of both. Subject to EU explicit pressures for reform absent elsewhere in the Middle East, the data nevertheless show that Turkey has yet to make the qualitative leap forward that could place it firmly within the Southern European welfare group.
This paper examines the dynamics of care arrangements for children, persons with disabilities (PWD), and the elderly, who constitute the group of 'the invisible' in social policy in Turkey. The invisibility of these three groups stems from their systematic, consistent and diffuse exclusion from the social, political and economic life of the country. The context of social inclusion policies for these groups in Turkey presents a challenge to assess their implications in three important respects: (I) the lack of data concerning these groups, (II) the lack of policy tools and instruments assessing the existing assistance and services for these groups, to allow comparative evaluations, and (III) general orientation of care services and policies towards families, therefore not targeting the direct correspondents of these policies. This paper outlines existing care policies for children, PWD and the elderly in Turkey, with a view to assessing their implications for promoting social inclusion, in two different aspects. While social inclusion literature is predominantly focused on the implication of social policies for the carereceivers, this paper examines the social inclusion implications of care policies also for those who are traditionally assigned the role of caregiver, namely, women. The latter dimension is a consequence of the increasing familialization of care policies in Turkey, which leads to the exclusion of women from economic and social life, thus reproducing the invisibility of these three groups while sustaining an overarching invisibility, that of women.
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