This title covers 15 countries in Europe and beyond bringing together leading academic experts to provide a unique insight into the past, present and future state of this key policy area.

The transformation of women's lives over the past century is among the most significant and far-reaching of social and economic phenomena, affecting not only women but also their partners, children, and indeed nearly every person on the planet. In developed and developing countries alike, women are acquiring more education, marrying later, having fewer children, and spending a far greater amount of their adult lives in the labor force. Yet, because women remain the primary caregivers of children, issues such as work-life balance and the glass ceiling have given rise to critical policy discussions in the developed world. In developing countries, many women lack access to reproductive technology and are often relegated to jobs in the informal sector, where pay is variable and job security is weak. Considerable occupational segregation and stubborn gender pay gaps persist around the world. The Oxford Handbook of Women and the Economy is the first comprehensive collection of scholarly essays to address these issues using the powerful framework of economics. Each chapter, written by an acknowledged expert or team of experts, reviews the key trends, surveys the relevant economic theory, and summarizes and critiques the empirical research literature. By providing a clear-eyed view of what we know, what we do not know, and what the critical unanswered questions are, this Handbook provides an invaluable and wide-ranging examination of the many changes that have occurred in women's economic lives.

This volume brings together contributors from 18 countries to provide international perspectives on the politics of parental leave policies in different parts of the world. Initially looking at the politics of care leave policies in eight countries across Europe, the US, Latin America and Asia, the book moves on to consider a variety of key issues in depth, including gender equality, flexibility and challenges for fathers in using leave. In the final section of the book, contributors look beyond the early parenthood period to consider possible future directions for care leave policy in order to address the wider changes and challenges that our societies face.

A real-world solution for parental leave that promotes gender equality at work and at home What do Papua New Guinea, Suriname, and the United States have in common? These three nations are the only ones that do not offer some form of parental leave to new parents. The US lags far behind the rest of the world on this important issue, raising questions about our commitment to gender equality and the welfare of our families. In Fixing Parental Leave, Gayle Kaufman takes an in-depth look at parental leave policies in the US, the UK, and Sweden, and evaluates the benefits and drawbacks of leave policies in each country. She finds that there is more to parental leave policies than whether a country provides time off around the birth or adoption of a child. While most policies are designed to help women return to work, this is only half of the puzzle. The second half requires men to be meaningful partners by encouraging them to take equal time at home. Ultimately, Kaufman arrives at a rational solution that will promote gender equity through a policy that enables parents at companies of all sizes to spend six months with their new child.

Nordic countries lead the way in facilitating better work-family integration through their design of parental leave policies that encourage men towards life courses with greater care responsibilities. Based on original research, this compelling book offers a novel analysis of the everyday parental practices of fathers and parents in Norway as a way of understanding the workings of labour market and welfare policies, whilst considering how migrant fathers might relate to the expectations such laws generate. The authors showcase how this style of men’s care work constitutes a re-gendering of men by promoting ‘caring masculinities’.

Written in an accessible, case study format, this groundbreaking work explores the formulation, implementation, and evaluation of family leave policy in the United States,from its beginnings at the state level in the early 1980s, through the adoption of the federal Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, and beyond to the present day. With a political economy perspective, the book identifies the major economic and social forces affecting both the family and the workplace. And drawing on original primary research, it examines how the political system has responded to this evolving issue with various policy initiatives.

This aim of this open access book is to launch an international, cross-disciplinary conversation on fatherhood engagement. By integrating perspective from three sectors -- Health, Social Policy, and Work in Organizations -- the book offers a novel perspective on the benefits of engaged fatherhood for men, for families, and for gender equality. The chapters are crafted to engaged broad audiences, including policy makers and organizational leaders, healthcare practitioners and fellow scholars, as well as families and their loved ones.