隨著社會經濟環境的變遷、教育程度提高、性別平等工作的推動，女性投入職場就業的比例逐年增加，而女性所面對的家庭與工作兩頭燒的壓力，卻日漸沉重。女性的就業選擇往往受到家庭照顧責任及社會文化規範等結構性因素的干擾。國家在提倡與促進女性就業的同時，能否提供更友善的家庭照顧資源與社會支持系統，使就業女性能兼顧家庭與工作，並且維持良好的生活品質，是值得深入探究的議題。 近幾年，新北市政府建立多所公共托育中心提供兒童托育服務。本研究目的在探討新北市的公共托育服務，相較於家庭的非正式托育、經濟市場所提供的私人托育服務，其對於女性在家庭照顧與就業面向上所產生的變化與影響，並針對公共托育政策提出反思與建議。 本研究透過深度訪談法，訪談10位使用新北市公共托育服務之女性，研究發現當國家提供平價、優質且穩定的公共托育服務，協助家庭照顧三歲以下的嬰幼兒，對於女性家庭照顧與就業情形皆有正面的影響。在家庭照顧方面，使用公共托育服務可以降低家庭育兒經濟負擔、降低女性的兒童照顧壓力、建立家庭的共同照顧價值、增進家長親職知能及擴大家庭生活圈、增加生育意願等。在就業方面，公共托育服務可以降低女性所面對的家庭與工作的衝突、支持與促進女性就業、提升女性就業品質，以及有利於女性職涯規劃與發展。 最後，針對公共托育服務政策，提出以下幾點建議：1.國家應積極促進托育服務公共化，以提供人民近便、平價且優質的托育服務、2.建立托育資源整合平台，提供托育相關資訊與協助，以利女性育兒與就業規劃、3.家庭育兒政策與充分就業政策結合，促進女性就業且提升女性生活品質。

<p>In 1939 a law was passed in Sweden which forbade employers to dismiss female employees because of marriage or pregnancy. In Germany a law had been introduced already in 1932, which gave employers the right to dismiss a woman when she married. It also gave women right to end their employment for the same reason. The political decisions behind these legal changes were in both cases the result of an extended debate on the right of employment of married women. This debate occurred in most industrialised European countries in the interwar period.</p><p>The increasing participation of women on the labour market was by some groups interpreted as a cause of mass unemployment. Economic crisis contributed to a crisis of masculinity, which then led to attacks on the rights of married women to paid employment. In Sweden there was a state commission set up in 1936 with the task of investigating women’s employment. This commission, <i>kvinnoarbetskommittén, </i>managed to demonstrate that dismissing women would not lead to a lowering of the unemployment figures for men, a task they accomplished through detailed studies of several labour market areas. The report of the commission guided the decision of parliament, a decision taken when the economic depression had already turned to a boom period. The composition of the commission as well as its work was a consequence of the strong influence of the Swedish women’s movement.</p><p>In Germany the rights of women to paid employment was limited already in 1923 as the result of the financial crisis of the state. During the depression the attacks on married women’s right to employment became a political tool, which could be used both in foreign and domestic policy. Dismissing married women employed as civil servants was aimed to quash the demands of unemployed men. A prime target in the foreign policy was to convince the victors of World War I that reparations exceeded the ability of the German nation, a nation which had been badly stricken by economic crisis and unemployment. With this argument a solution of the unemployment issue was given second priority.</p>

In 1939 a law was passed in Sweden which forbade employers to dismiss female employees because of marriage or pregnancy. In Germany a law had been introduced already in 1932, which gave employers the right to dismiss a woman when she married. It also gave women right to end their employment for the same reason. The political decisions behind these legal changes were in both cases the result of an extended debate on the right of employment of married women. This debate occurred in most industrialised European countries in the interwar period. The increasing participation of women on the labour market was by some groups interpreted as a cause of mass unemployment. Economic crisis contributed to a crisis of masculinity, which then led to attacks on the rights of married women to paid employment. In Sweden there was a state commission set up in 1936 with the task of investigating women’s employment. This commission, kvinnoarbetskommittén, managed to demonstrate that dismissing women would not lead to a lowering of the unemployment figures for men, a task they accomplished through detailed studies of several labour market areas. The report of the commission guided the decision of parliament, a decision taken when the economic depression had already turned to a boom period. The composition of the commission as well as its work was a consequence of the strong influence of the Swedish women’s movement. In Germany the rights of women to paid employment was limited already in 1923 as the result of the financial crisis of the state. During the depression the attacks on married women’s right to employment became a political tool, which could be used both in foreign and domestic policy. Dismissing married women employed as civil servants was aimed to quash the demands of unemployed men. A prime target in the foreign policy was to convince the victors of World War I that reparations exceeded the ability of the German nation, a nation which had been badly stricken by economic crisis and unemployment. With this argument a solution of the unemployment issue was given second priority.