Egalitarian ideologies on the move: Changing care practices and gender norms in Norway

Abstract

This article explores the complexities and ambiguities in Norwegian families’ interaction with the public childcare system. Public childcare is a cornerstone in the ‘double dividend’, that is, social policies that equalize children’s life chances and support gender equality. The dual earner/dual carer family model interacts with full-time participation in the labour market, gender equality at home and universal access to childcare, and has made contemporary childhood multi-local and mobile. As part of their everyday organization of care, parents have to establish connections between home, work and childcare. Here, we use the concept of ‘care loops’ to analyse how local families ‘do’ combinations of welfare services, family resources, gender ideologies and the labour of migrant care workers. Drawing on empirical research on migrant care workers in Norwegian families and discussing recent studies of majority families’ care practices, the article discusses the paradox that egalitarian norms and ideals might generate extra workloads that in turn create demands for migrant care workers and trigger geopolitical inequality.

Multi-local and cross-border care loops: Comparison of childcare and eldercare policies in Slovenia

“…This situation is similar to that in Norway, where paid childcare services are increasingly used for managing imbalances between working hours and opening hours in childcare. The difference is that Norwegian families often employ au pairs to help organize everyday care loops (see Widding Isaksen and Bikova, 2019). In Slovenia, private paid childcare still occurs only sporadically, occasionally and for a short term and when it does, parents employ exclusively local retired women and students.…”

“…In Slovenia, private paid childcare still occurs only sporadically, occasionally and for a short term and when it does, parents employ exclusively local retired women and students. An important reason for limited private paid childcare lies in the fact that the state ensures and financially provides comprehensive, good quality, universally accessible public kindergarten services and, in contrast to, for instance, Finland and Norway (see Näre and Wide; Widding Isaksen and Bikova, 2019), does not support private care with cash payments either in the family or in the market.…”

A closer look at demand-side explanations for the Matthew effect in formal childcare uptake in Europe and Australia

“…Whereas population ageing potentially limits future labour supply and entails high welfare state costs (for example, pensions, healthcare), childcare services support parental employment, which mitigates welfare dependency and poverty risks, which in turn positively impacts a country’s budget (Pavolini and Van Lancker, 2018; Troger and Verwiebe, 2015). Other potential wellbeing-enhancing effects in parents include higher levels of household-level gender equality, the realization of fertility intentions, and satisfaction with family life (Isaksen and Bikova, 2019; Neels et al, 2016; Schober and Schmitt, 2017). Among young children, the enrolment in formal childcare is expected to enhance their cognitive development, in turn potentially stimulating much needed future educational and economic performance in post-industrial labour markets (Burger, 2010; Felfe and Lalive, 2013; Havnes and Mogstad, 2011; Kamerman et al, 2003; Leseman and Slot, 2014).…”

A Quantitative Study of Early Childhood Care and Education Services Under the Age of Three: Evidence From Sichuan Province, China

“…The emphasis on ECCE has the dual function of sustaining parental employment, especially for women, and fostering child development (5,13). As for the country, the development of ECCE is an important means or tool to promote a country's human resources development (14), gender equality in the family and workplace (15)(16)(17), women's employment (18,19), increase the fertility rate (20,21), and reduce the intergenerational cycle of poverty (22). It has become one of the best investments a country can make in itself.…”