IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/sagope/v5y2015i1p2158244015574299.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

“Post-Feminist†Era of Social Investment and Territorial Welfare? Exploring the Issue Salience and Policy Framing of Child Care in U.K. Elections 1983-2011

Author

Listed:
  • Paul Chaney

Abstract

Earlier work has tended to overlook the formative origins of child care policy in liberal democracies. Accordingly, this study examines mandate-seeking and parties’ envisioning of child care with reference to issue salience and policy framing in party manifestos in U.K. Westminster and regional elections. It reveals a significant increase in issue salience following its emergence as a manifesto issue in the 1980s, thereby confirming it as part of the wider rise of “valence politics.†The framing data reveal that a “post-feminist†discourse of “social investment†has generally displaced the political framing of child care as a gender equality issue. It is argued that this is inherently problematic and reflects parties’ failure to address ongoing gender inequality in the labor market. Notably, the data also illustrate the way devolution is leading to the territorialization of child care in the United Kingdom—no longer solely mandated in Westminster elections, policy is now contingent on the discursive practices of regional party politics and shaped by local socio-economic factors.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul Chaney, 2015. "“Post-Feminist†Era of Social Investment and Territorial Welfare? Exploring the Issue Salience and Policy Framing of Child Care in U.K. Elections 1983-2011," SAGE Open, , vol. 5(1), pages 21582440155, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:5:y:2015:i:1:p:2158244015574299
    DOI: 10.1177/2158244015574299
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2158244015574299
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/2158244015574299?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Royed, Terry J., 1996. "Testing the Mandate Model in Britain and the United States: Evidence from the Reagan and Thatcher Eras," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 26(1), pages 45-80, January.
    2. Tzannatos, Zafiris, 1999. "Women and Labor Market Changes in the Global Economy: Growth Helps, Inequalities Hurt and Public Policy Matters," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 551-569, March.
    3. Rianne Mahon & Deborah Brennan, 2013. "Federalism and the "New Politics" of Welfare Development: Childcare and Parental Leave in Australia and Canada," Publius: The Journal of Federalism, CSF Associates Inc., vol. 43(1), pages 90-108, January.
    4. Picchio,Antonella, 1992. "Social Reproduction," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521418720, January.
    5. Budge, Ian & Hofferbert, Richard I., 1990. "Mandates and Policy Outputs: U.S. Party Platforms and Federal Expenditures," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 84(1), pages 111-131, March.
    6. Maurice Basle, 2006. "Strengths and weaknesses of European Union policy evaluation methods: Ex-post evaluation of objective 2, 1994-99," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(2), pages 225-235.
    7. Kean Birch & Danny MacKinnon & Andrew Cumbers, 2010. "Old Industrial Regions in Europe: A Comparative Assessment of Economic Performance," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(1), pages 35-53.
    8. Andrew Gamble, 0. "The Constitutional Revolution in the United Kingdom," Publius: The Journal of Federalism, CSF Associates Inc., vol. 36(1), pages 19-35.
    9. Carlo Morelli & Paul Seaman, 2009. "Devolution & Entrenched Household Poverty: Is Scotland less mobile?," Dundee Discussion Papers in Economics 226, Economic Studies, University of Dundee.
    10. Kendall, Jeremy, 2000. "The mainstreaming of the third sector into public policy in England in the late 1990s: whys and wherefores," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 29028, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    11. Seguino, Stephanie, 2000. "Gender Inequality and Economic Growth: A Cross-Country Analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 28(7), pages 1211-1230, July.
    12. Dorsett, Richard, 2013. "The effect of the Troubles on GDP in Northern Ireland," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 119-133.
    13. Peter Kerr & Christopher Byrne & Emma Foster, 2011. "Theorising Cameronism," Political Studies Review, Political Studies Association, vol. 9(2), pages 193-207, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bussmann, Margit, 2009. "The Effect of Trade Openness on Women's Welfare and Work Life," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 1027-1038, June.
    2. David Cuberes & Marc Teignier, 2012. "Gender Gaps in the Labor Market and Aggregate Productivity," Working Papers 2012017, The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics.
    3. Romina Kazandjian & Ms. Lisa L Kolovich & Ms. Kalpana Kochhar & Ms. Monique Newiak, 2016. "Gender Equality and Economic Diversification," IMF Working Papers 2016/140, International Monetary Fund.
    4. Stephanie Seguino & Caren Grown, 2006. "Gender equity and globalization: macroeconomic policy for developing countries," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(8), pages 1081-1104.
    5. Haroon Ur Rashid Khan & Anwar Khan & Khalid Zaman & Agha Amad Nabi & Sanil S. Hishan & Talat Islam, 2017. "Gender discrimination in education, health, and labour market: a voice for equality," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 51(5), pages 2245-2266, September.
    6. Remco H. Oostendorp, 2009. "Globalization and the Gender Wage Gap," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 23(1), pages 141-161, January.
    7. Chaney, Paul, 2014. "Mixed-methods analysis of political parties׳ manifesto discourse on rail transport policy: Westminster, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish elections 1945–2011," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 275-285.
    8. Romina Kazandjian & Lisa Kolovich & Kalpana Kochhar & Monique Newiak, 2019. "Gender Equality and Economic Diversification," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-24, April.
    9. Neumayer, Eric & de Soysa, Indra, 2011. "Globalization and the Empowerment of Women: An Analysis of Spatial Dependence via Trade and Foreign Direct Investment," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(7), pages 1065-1075, July.
    10. Andreas Schedler, 1998. "The Normative Force of Electoral Promises," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 10(2), pages 191-214, April.
    11. Abu-Ghaida, Dina & Klasen, Stephan, 2004. "The Costs of Missing the Millennium Development Goal on Gender Equity," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(7), pages 1075-1107, July.
    12. Rai, Shirin M. & Brown, Benjamin D. & Ruwanpura, Kanchana N., 2019. "SDG 8: Decent work and economic growth – A gendered analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 368-380.
    13. Fofack, Hippolyte, 2012. "Accounting for gender production from a growth accounting framework in Sub-Saharan Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6153, The World Bank.
    14. Stefano Costalli & Luigi Moretti & Costantino Pischedda, 2014. "The Economic Costs of Civil War: Synthetic Counterfactual Evidence and the Effects of Ethnic Fractionalization," HiCN Working Papers 184, Households in Conflict Network.
    15. Kean Birch & Andrew Cumbers, 2010. "Knowledge, Space, and Economic Governance: The Implications of Knowledge-Based Commodity Chains for Less-Favoured Regions," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 42(11), pages 2581-2601, November.
    16. Dejardin, Amelita King., 2009. "Gender (in)equality, globalization and governance," ILO Working Papers 994327273402676, International Labour Organization.
    17. Khayria Karoui & Rochdi Feki, 2018. "Does gender inequality reduce growth and development economique? Evidence for a panel from African countries," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 52(5), pages 2055-2061, September.
    18. Simplice A. Asongu & Uchenna R. Efobi & Belmondo V. Tanankem & Evans S. Osabuohien, 2019. "Globalisation and Female Economic Participation in Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 19/019, African Governance and Development Institute..
    19. Sefa Awaworyi Churchill & Davidson Okai & Alberto Posso, 2016. "Internet Use and Ethnic Heterogeneity in a Cross-Section of Countries," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 35(1), pages 59-72, March.
    20. Matuszewska-Janica Aleksandra, 2018. "Differences in Men’s and Women’s Wages in the Education Sector in the Baltic Sea Region States," Folia Oeconomica Stetinensia, Sciendo, vol. 18(1), pages 157-168, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:5:y:2015:i:1:p:2158244015574299. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.