Activation policies from a gender-sensible citizenship perspective: a tentative analytical framework

The paper develops a tentative analytical framework for systematically comparing different types of activation policies with regard to their implications for the welfare triangle between state-market-family and gender inequalities. Starting point is the realization that the meanwhile universal "activation paradigm" of labour market policies, i.e. the (re-)commodification of all adults able to work, affects the welfare production of families as it conflicts with the unpaid care work for dependants performed primarily by women. From a theoretical background of social citizenship rights, it is assumed that this unpaid care work can neither be fully commodified and de-familised, nor that this is desirable for society. Rather, the notion of an inclusive social citizenship developed by feminist welfare state research includes both earning and caring responsibilities of all citizens as a basis for recognition and subsistence. Two main research questions arising from this inherent tension of activation policies are tackled in this paper: First, how do the different country variants of activation policies address this tension and what are the interdependencies between national welfare and gender regimes and the specific activation type? Second, what are the outcomes of this interplay in terms of social inequality especially with regard to gender and class, and regarding the notion of inclusive social citizenship? To operationalise these questions for comparative research, a tentative analytical framework is proposed, developing seven relevant dimensions and respective indicators to measure or assess them. This analytical tool has been applied in a case study of German activation policies, whose central findings are summarised, drawing conclusions in the light of comparative research.