Towards a gendered welfare state typology: a comparative analysis of selected OECD and East Asian welfare states

TY - CONF

T1 - Towards a gendered welfare state typology

T2 - 13th East Asian Social Policy Association Conference

AU - Xinide, null

AU - Roumpakis, Antonios

PY - 2016

Y1 - 2016

N2 - Our paper begins with a critical review of existing typologies and approaches that incorporate gender into the comparative analysis of the welfare state. We revisit feminists’ critiques on the inadequacy of conceptual and methodological tools for analysing gender and care arrangements within comparative welfare research. Given the important role of women as welfare providers and family as a site for welfare provision in East Asia, we regard that this critique needs to be extended into the East Asian welfare state typology debate. So far the majority of the gender-focused literature applies predominantly on OECD countries and less so in East Asia while even fewer studies compared case studies from both. Our paper will aim to address this gap and compare selected cases both from East Asia and OECD countries. In doing so, we borrow from the work of Hudson and Kühner (2009, 2010) and opt to analytically explore the protective and productive dimensions of welfare states but from a gender perspective. The gender productive dimension will explore labour force participation and educational attainment while for the protective dimension, we explore available data for maternity leave benefits and childcare support. The paper will utilise a fuzzy-set ideal type analysis in order to construct a new regime typology which accounts for gender inequalities among selected OECD and East Asian societies. Finally, in light of our empirical findings, we review the methodological and analytical advantages of incorporating a gender dimension into the East Asian welfare state typology debate.

AB - Our paper begins with a critical review of existing typologies and approaches that incorporate gender into the comparative analysis of the welfare state. We revisit feminists’ critiques on the inadequacy of conceptual and methodological tools for analysing gender and care arrangements within comparative welfare research. Given the important role of women as welfare providers and family as a site for welfare provision in East Asia, we regard that this critique needs to be extended into the East Asian welfare state typology debate. So far the majority of the gender-focused literature applies predominantly on OECD countries and less so in East Asia while even fewer studies compared case studies from both. Our paper will aim to address this gap and compare selected cases both from East Asia and OECD countries. In doing so, we borrow from the work of Hudson and Kühner (2009, 2010) and opt to analytically explore the protective and productive dimensions of welfare states but from a gender perspective. The gender productive dimension will explore labour force participation and educational attainment while for the protective dimension, we explore available data for maternity leave benefits and childcare support. The paper will utilise a fuzzy-set ideal type analysis in order to construct a new regime typology which accounts for gender inequalities among selected OECD and East Asian societies. Finally, in light of our empirical findings, we review the methodological and analytical advantages of incorporating a gender dimension into the East Asian welfare state typology debate.

M3 - Paper

Y2 - 1 July 2016 through 2 July 2016

ER -