Each month, we select up to ten publications from those that have recently been entered into the Literature Database.

A year ago, there were approximately 7,500 citations in the Literature Database. As of June 2007, we now have over 8,650 citations.

Direct link to the Sloan Literature Update articles in the Literature Database.

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Global Perspectives - Bould, S. (2006). The need for international family policy: Mothers as workers and carers. Marriage and Family Review, 39(1/2), 75-98.
This article reviews United Nations policies that focus on families in developing countries in which the mother works outside of the home. The author argues that child care has been ignored in the UN efforts on gender mainstreaming, empowering women, and helping poor children. A profile of a South Asian grassroots organization, Care, Health and Education for Children in Poverty, provides an example of how to combine child care and paid work effectively. The necessity of and suggestions for an international family policy that focuses on mothers as care-takers and paid workers are discussed.

Global Perspectives - Brennan, D. (2007). Babies, budgets, and birthrates: Work/family policy in Australia 1996-2000. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, 14(1), 31-57.
This paper discusses Australia’s work-family policies since 1996 when a conservative party led by John Howard was elected to government. The author examines family payments, parental leave, and child care and concludes that this government has increased family benefits while imposing large penalties on families’ second earners, funded a generous Maternity Payment while declining to introduce paid maternity leave, and increased subsidized for-profit child care while undermining the system of non-profit, community-based care. These changes have worked in tandem to discourage the labor participation of mothers with young children, with the exception of single parents, who are required to hold paying jobs to keep their benefits. The author does see less hostility towards working mothers in recent years, perhaps in response to Australia’s declining birthrate.

Cooke, L.P. (2007). Policy pathways to gender power: State-level effects on the U.S. division of housework. Journal of Social Policy, 36(2), 239-260.
Using the second wave of the U.S. National Survey of Families and Households, the author tested her relative gender power model that incorporates individual and policy-related resources to explain differences in the division of housework between men and women. The author hypothesized that the greater women’s share of income relative to family income, the greater men’s amount of time at domestic tasks, the greater the state poverty rate, the less time men spend at domestic tasks, and that when couples reside in a state that follows the law of community property, men perform more domestic tasks. Taken all together, United States policy effects discussed in the paper can increase men’s share of traditionally female domestic tasks by more than ten percent, suggesting that policy can affect domestic gender roles.

Crawford, A. (2006). The impact of child care subsidies on single mothers’ work effort. Review of Policy Research, 23(3), 699-711.

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), passed in 1996, led to an increase in funding for child care assistance. Using data from the third wave of the National Survey of America’s Families, which contains information on 40,000 families, the author examined the impact of child care subsidies on single mothers’ work hours and efforts. The author focused on mothers with children under the age of five. Findings indicate that the predicted probability of these single mothers working more than fifteen hours a week is 0.75 for those receiving a subsidy, 0.54 for those with no subsidy. Recommendations for future studies on the impact of child care subsidies are given.

Global Perspectives - Fagnani, J. (2007). Family policies in France and Germany: Sisters or distant cousins? Community, Work and Family, 10(1), 39-56.

Germany and France are often placed in the same category of conservative-corporate regimes. While the two countries have very similar family policies, their child care policies and public support of mothers’ employment are very different. France, along with the countries of Scandinavia, leads Europe in child care provisions and benefits intended to reduce families’ child care costs. In 2002, only 19 percent of French people surveyed thought that mothers of young children should never work. Conversely, German mothers of young children are under social pressure to devote themselves entirely to the care of their young children, and mothers with older children often work part-time instead of full-time. Possibly as a result of these expectations and policies, by 2000, 32 percent of West German women who were 45 years old had no children, compared with 26 percent of East German women and 10 percent of French women.

Global Perspectives - Lewis, J., & Campbell, M. (2007). UK Work/Family Balance Policies and Gender Equality, 1997-2005. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, 14(1), 1-27.

This paper provides an overview of the development of governmental policies relating to work/family balance (WFB) in the UK from 1997 to 2005. More explicitly, the paper assesses how far these policies are likely to promote gender equality. The authors define gender equality in terms of the possibility of making a “real” or “genuine” choice for men and women to “work and care”. The paper argues that the UK position on governmental intervention in work and family reconciliation has progressed since New Labour came into power in 1997. Policy developments in childcare services, leave (maternity, paternity, and parental), and working hours are discussed in the context of overlapping and often times contrasting economic and social objectives. They are also considered in relation to their ability to improve and promote gender equality. For instance, the authors examine the implications of prolonging maternity leave and providing minimalist arrangements for fathers (inflexible and low-compensated paternity leave). They argue that such policies do very little to improve gender equality, as women are more likely than men to take leave and thereby reinforcing the gendered division of unpaid care work in the household and affecting women’s re-entry into the labor market. The authors contend that there is little public recognition of the extent to which men’s choices affect those taken by women. Although the UK government has made WFB a matter of public policy concern since 1997, current policies curb the movement and real practice of gender equality at work and at home for men and women. Annotated by Uracha Chatrakul Na Ayudhya, Doctoral Researcher, Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom.

Bernard, M. & Phillips, J.E. (2007). Working carers of older adults: What helps and what hinders in juggling work and care? Community, Work and Family, 10(2), 139-160.
This report examines a study that investigated the work-care balance strategies of employees in two public sector organizations—a Social Services Department and a National Health Service. Three hundred and sixty five employees who cared for an older adult over the age of 60 completed a survey, and carers and their managers were interviewed about their experiences. Findings indicate that formal policies are less important to carers than informal support from co-workers and managers. Factors that cause difficulty include commuting distance, inflexible schedules, and work overload.

Global Perspectives - Wang, P. (2007). Family friendly programs, organizational commitment, and work withdrawal: The moderating role of transformational leadership. Personnel Psychology, 60(2), 397-427.
The authors considered the interaction of family-friendly programs and transformational leadership and their effect on employees’ work attitudes and behaviors. Transformational leadership behaviors include providing support to employees, serving as a mentor or coach, listening to workers’ concerns, and fostering a supportive environment for employees’ personal growth. The study focuses on developing economies; 475 participants from 45 bank branches in China, Kenya, and Thailand completed questionnaires anonymously. Child care benefits were positively related to organizational commitment; however, the authors found no significant relationship between child care and work withdrawal or between flexibility benefits and either organizational commitment or work withdrawal. Findings do suggest a moderating effect of transformational leadership on family-friendly programs as well as organizational commitment and work withdrawal.

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