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The Welfare State and Gender Equality

Author

Listed:
  • Francois Nielsen
  • David Bradley
  • John D. Stephens
  • Evelyne Huber
  • Stephanie Moller

Abstract

This paper examines the determinants of several indicators of economic well being of women. The feminist literature has suggested that womens well being is best measured through both the economic status of women and power relations vis-à-vis men. Barbara Hobson has proposed that the percentage of single mothers in poverty and married womens income as a proportion of both spouses income effectively measure economic status and power relations. The dependent variables are calculated from micro data available in the Luxembourg Income Survey (LIS) archive, which now contains enough countries and time points to allow multivariate statistical analysis with a sufficiently large number of independent variables to test a broad range of hypotheses on the determinants of gender egalitarian outcomes while controlling for other possible determinants. In the case of poverty among single mothers, the LIS data also allow us to go beyond Hobsons single indicator to investigate the extent to which government action is responsible for poverty reduction. Hence, we analyze 4 dependent variables: 1) pre tax and transfer poverty rates among single mothers, 2) reductions in single mothers poverty due to taxes and transfers, 3) post tax and transfer poverty rates among single mothers, and 4) womens wages relative to spouses wages. In these analyses, we test feminist theories along with theories of economic structure, labor market institutions, state structure and political power.

Suggested Citation

  • Francois Nielsen & David Bradley & John D. Stephens & Evelyne Huber & Stephanie Moller, 2001. "The Welfare State and Gender Equality," LIS Working papers 279, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    • Handle: RePEc:lis:liswps:279
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Hélène Périvier, 2007. "Les femmes sur le marché du travail aux Etats-Unis: une mise en perspective avec la France et la Suède," Working Papers hal-00972845, HAL.
    2. Hélène Périvier, 2008. "Les femmes sur le marché du travail aux États-Unis," Documents de Travail de l'OFCE 2008-12, Observatoire Francais des Conjonctures Economiques (OFCE).
    3. Hélène Périvier, 2009. "Les femmes sur le marché du travail aux États-Unis," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-02081114, HAL.
    4. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/eu4vqp9ompqllr09hahqp4sa4 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/eu4vqp9ompqllr09hahqp4sa4 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Anita Haataja & Anita Nyberg, 2005. "Did the dual-earner model become stronger or weaker in Finland and Sweden in the 1990s?," LIS Working papers 414, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.

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