This research examines the impact of work-family reconciliation policies on gender inequality in the labour market, and on the division of paid work and care in the household. Policies designed to help families meet their work and care responsibilities have undergone considerable reform over the last fifteen years. The research aims to understand how this has affected the way that earning and caring are divided between mothers and fathers, and the implications of this for mothers’ labour market outcomes. The research compares two cohorts; the National Child Development Study (NCDS) tracks individuals born in 1958, and the British Cohort Study (BCS) those born in 1970. These cohorts experienced the key childbearing years of their early thirties on either side of a fairly sharp discontinuity in work-family reconciliation policy. The research aims to link this difference in policy environments to differences the way that couples in each cohort divide paid work and care, and in the labour market behaviour of mothers and the penalties they face when they are in employment. Logistic regression models are employed to quantify the magnitude and significance of the impact of cohort membership on the work and care outcomes of interest, controlling for other variables that affect these outcomes. Some case-level analysis of the data is also carried out; individuals representing typical family arrangements are highlighted, to demonstrate the relevance of the theoretical model and assist with hypothesis generation. Case stories illustrate the interplay of individual circumstances with policy and other external factors, in a way that is difficult to achieve using statistical methods. A key finding is that the younger cohort is less likely to report equal sharing of childcare than the older cohort, even after controlling for other factors that might influence the division of labour. This is also in spite of the finding that mothers in the younger cohort are more likely to be in work. This suggests progress to some extent, in that mothers perhaps find it easier to be in employment. However at the same time it represents a regressive step at the household level, as they not only continue to shoulder the majority of the care work, but are even more inclined to do so. Analysis of pay and status gaps also yields interesting results. The findings suggest that the penalty to motherhood in terms of labour market status accrues by virtue of the interrupted human capital accumulation that results from periods out of the labour market or working part time. However, the motherhood penalty in pay persists even after controlling for other wage determinants, suggesting that these gaps are a direct result of motherhood itself and not of the labour market behaviour changes that occur as a result. The research contributes theoretically and substantively to the wider literature on this topic. It brings together human capital perspectives with theories of gender, power and resources, and of the impact of policy on family life, and uses Amartya Sen’s capability approach to reconcile and move forward these ideas. It also contributes to the practical understanding of the impact of policy on the way that families reconcile work and care, and in particular the implications of policy for gender equality. Finally, its methodological contribution is in the use of a narrative approach to large-scale quantitative data, alongside more conventional statistical techniques, in order to further exploit the detailed, longitudinal data available.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-11T13:52:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Helder Loris.pdf: 413621 bytes, checksum: 9eae2d0bf73d8cfea67d1ce08c14c42c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-09-15 / The 1990 is considered a milestone in the economic history of Brazil. The structural changes experienced by changes in economic policy, especially trade liberalization, had provided positive and negative impacts to the Brazilian society that even today, are important objects of study. The working class, without a doubt the most exposed to effects of the changes, felt the weight of these changes throughout the process of economic integration of the country to the new world order. This dissertation analyzes the formal labor market in Manaus, from the second half of the nineties until the year 2005. The overall goal is to issue an assessment of the dynamics of this market, looking for clues to identify the relationship between this and the dynamic behavior of some macroeconomic variables such as exchange rates and fluctuations in gross domestic product of Amazonas. The theoretical analysis contains underlying concepts of business cycles, the determinants of labor market and its factors, as well as the rates of job creation and destruction. The method of analysis, we opted for an adaptation of procedures established by Davis and Haltiwanger involving the estimation of rates of creation and destruction of jobs and their derivations from the stock of employees in the sectors and subsectors of the economy Manaus. In addition, we used the turbulence index or index of structural change and some descriptive measures. The results, with the instrumental analysis of the abovementioned factors, concluded that the formal labor market dynamics of Manaus has a relatively differentiated and more intense in terms of rates of creation and destruction of jobs and hence reallocation of posts work than the national economy, which may represent, from a certain point of view, something positive for the Amazonian society, particularly for the working class / A década de 1990 é considerada um marco na história econômica do Brasil. As transformações estruturais experimentadas a partir das mudanças na política econômica, principalmente a abertura comercial, proporcionara impactos positivos e negativos à sociedade brasileira que, ainda hoje, são objetos de importantes estudos. A classe trabalhadora, sem dúvida a mais exposta aos efeitos das mudanças, sentira o peso destas transformações ao longo de todo o processo de inserção econômica do país à nova ordem mundial. Esta dissertação analisa o mercado de trabalho formal da cidade de Manaus, a partir da segunda metade da década de noventa até o ano de 2005. O objetivo geral é emitir um diagnóstico sobre a dinâmica desse mercado, procurando identificar indícios da relação entre a referida dinâmica e o comportamento de algumas variáveis macroeconômicas, tais como a taxa de câmbio e as flutuações do produto interno bruto amazonense. A base teórica subjacente às analises contém conceitos sobre os ciclos econômicos, os determinantes do mercado de trabalho e seus fatores, bem como as taxas de criação e destruição de empregos. Quanto ao método de análise, optou-se por uma adaptação dos procedimentos criados por Davis e Haltiwanger, que consistem na estimação de taxas de criação e destruição de empregos e suas derivações a partir do estoque de empregados nos setores e subsetores da economia manauense. Complementarmente utilizou-se o índice de turbulência ou índice de mudança estrutural e algumas medidas de caráter descritivo. Os resultados obtidos, tendo como o instrumental de análise os elementos supracitados, permitiram concluir que o mercado de trabalho formal de Manaus possui uma dinâmica relativamente diferenciada e mais intensa em termos de taxas de criação e destruição de empregos e, consequentemente, realocação de postos de trabalho do que a economia nacional, o que pode representar, sob um certo ponto de vista, algo positivo para a sociedade amazonense, particularmente, para a classe trabalhadora

Cette thèse questionne le développement des centres commerciaux en France. Pour cela, elle analyse l’activité des professionnels dédiés à leur élaboration : les promoteurs d’immobilier commercial. Appréhendés au prisme des projets, les centres commerciaux apparaissent comme des constructions à la fois immobilières, économiques et politiques. Ce sont des biens immobiliers qui prennent la forme de « places de marché ». A ce titre, ils doivent attirer les protagonistes du commerce de détail (commerçants, consommateurs). Mais ils doivent aussi « se faire une place » dans les territoires. Là, les promoteurs sont confrontés aux élus locaux. Le développement des centres commerciaux s’inscrit dès lors dans une tension entre trois modes de définition des projets. Il revient aux promoteurs de les articuler au sein des systèmes d’acteurs qui entourent chaque réalisation. A travers une enquête par entretiens ; un travail d’archives portant sur quatre projets (Bercy Village, Le Millénaire, Odysseum, Ecoparc) ; et des analyses statistiques sur le profil des centres commerciaux en Île-De-France ; cette thèse démontre une tendance récente des promoteurs à prendre en compte la vision des élus engagés activement dans le développement de leurs villes depuis deux décennies. / In this dissertation we study the creation of shopping malls in France. We propose a sociology of market work of retail property developers. As marketplaces creators they have to involve retailers and consumers in their projects. They also have to organize a place for the market inside the cities. Thus, they confront local representatives. As a result these marketplaces creators have to deal with property, retailing and political issues. A tension between three kinds of projects definition emerges. Property developers' activity follows several steps which comprised attempts to articulate this tension. Based on interviews, analyses of four projects (Bercy Village, Le Millénaire, Odysseum, Ecoparc) and a statistical study of the shopping malls profiles in the Île-De-France region, we show that property developers recently follow the vision of local representatives involved in the urban development since the 1990's.

The thesis deals with ways to reconcile the personal and professional life from the perspective of corporate social responsibility (CSR). It describes the problems working parents must face when caring for a child, and confirms that the potential of CSR is not widely used in the Czech Republic. The main objective is the analysis of CSR tools, with which the employers may facilitate the harmonization of personal and work lives of their employees. The secondary objective is the cost-benefit analysis of the employer's introduction of some measures of CSR. It is shown why in the long run it is worth to be a socially responsible company. The international comparison in the field of reconciliation of family and working life is included. The thesis concludes with several recommendations for the state, which can improve options of balancing family and profession in the Czech Republic.