Long‐term Effects of Cash for Childcare on Mothers' Labour Supply

Abstract. In 1998–99 a cash benefit for 1‐ to 2‐year‐olds who do not use subsidized childcare on full‐time basis was introduced in Norway. A large‐scale appraisal shortly after introduction concluded that the effects on mothers' labour supply were surprisingly small. The more long‐term effects reported in this paper suggest that this conclusion may need modification. Almost 4 years after the reform the employment probability had declined significantly, and employed mothers were much more likely to be on leave. All in all the reduction in labour supply is estimated to be 3¾ hours per week or almost 20 per cent.     

How child welfare workers view their work with racial and ethnic minority families: The United States in contrast to England and Norway

This study builds on in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 93 child welfare workers employed in public child welfare agencies in the United States, Norway and England, and examines their perceptions of working with racial and ethnic minority families in contrast to White service users. Almost all workers reported on differences. In the United States, workers regarded cultural pluralism as a given and considered it an inherent feature of their work, regardless of the racial and/or ethnic background of the family. Further, they identified poverty, racism, and lack of feelings of entitlement as dimensions to practicing with minority families. A few mentioned language as an issue. The views of workers in the U.S. stand in stark contrast to the perceptions of workers in both England and Norway. They thought that communication challenges constituted a major problem, and that minority clients' lack of language proficiency and knowledge about society and social systems made it difficult for workers to understand families' meaning and intent (Kri? & Skivenes, 2009; 2010b). We discuss how caseworkers' perceptions may influence their decisions and affect minority disproportionality in the child protection system and analyze what factors may account for the cross-country differences we found. We also relate our findings to the broader question of citizenship and social rights in American society.     

Farm diversification into tourism – Implications for social identity?

This article deals with how diversification and transformation of farming into tourism may influence the social identity of farmers. Based on a study of 19 farms run by couples engaged with agritourism, it shows how the development of tourism on the farms can be understood in a perspective of repeasantization; and how the couples draw on their farm resources, culture and place to sustain the farm. As hosts offering local food, stories, and various activities, they mediate a strong farm identity. The article also explores how farm identities change through three processes by which the ‘new’ work of tourism destabilizes identities. One is a shift in the meaning of farmer identity. Another is the gradual change towards a new master identity, and thirdly there is a multiplicity of identities that shift as they relate to various social memberships and settings.     

The dual strategy: Motherhood and the work contract in Scandinavia

Mothers' employment in the Scandinavian countries is generally characterised by high employment rates. At the same time the fertility level is higher than in most European countries. Scandinavian women have to a large extent developed a dual strategy towards employment and children: Most women choose to have at least two children and they continue their employment after and between births. In this paper we discuss how this dual strategy can be explained, taking the case of Norway. We argue that the strategy of Norwegian mothers is based on arrangements in working life which enable employed mothers to pursue motherhood within the work contract.     

‘Can anything good come out of this mouth?’ Female experiences of disability in Malawi

The aim of this article is to give an overview of the daily life stories of 23 women with disabilities in Malawi. The stories were gained through qualitative interviews that covered aspects of being a woman and living with a disability in Malawi. Recent studies from countries in southern Africa have documented how people with disabilities experience poorer living conditions than people without disabilities. It is generally assumed that the living conditions of women are worse than those of men. There is, however, a large gap in the literature concerning women with disabilities in Africa. The results present a mixed picture. While several of the informants had experienced discrimination and exclusion because of their impairments, most of the women had been well taken care of and were treated equally by their closest family and friends. They had a strong wish to be empowered through education and employment.     

Working on the edge: the meaning of work for people recovering from severe mental distress in Norway

Most citizens with long‐term mental distress want a real job, and both Norway and European policies agree that work is a crucial part of social inclusion goals. Yet we know little about the actual impact of work on the recovery process for people with severe and often enduring mental distress. This article reports findings from a qualitative study which used an everyday life orientation to explore what it means to have a job and be an employee in regular work settings and ways of integrating work into daily life. Thirteen Norwegian men and women with experience of long‐term mental distress were interviewed. The findings indicate some ways in which work supports the recovery process: having an active working role, being in ordinary work settings, balancing rest and activity and having a sympathetic work environment. Often what may seem trivial to others is crucial to individuals in recovery from mental distress, yet is turned into models and system level solutions, where the uniqueness of everyday life and ‘common sense’ approaches remain unrecognised.     

The hidden curriculum of youth care interventions—A case study

Themes such as “effectiveness” and “evidence-based practice” currently dominate debates about the professional care of children and youth. Notwithstanding the importance of these themes, this rather narrow focus may leave the values and ideals underlying youth care interventions undiscussed. In this article we will present our case study of EQUIP as an example of the role of this “hidden curriculum” in youth care interventions. Qualitative research has been conducted, consisting of content analysis of documents, interviews and observations. For the analysis an existing theory on the content and structure of values is used (Schwartz, 1992). The results show that there are distinct differences in the way moral behavior is defined in a Dutch and American “version” of EQUIP. The results also suggest that a difference in value perspective might be related to the effectiveness of the program.     

Systemic differences in views on risk: A comparative case vignette study of risk assessment in England,Norway and the United States (California)

This article examines how child welfare workers from three countries assess risk to a child in the context of different risk assessment tools, child welfare systems and welfare regimes. Previous research suggests that there are distinct differences between child protection-oriented child welfare systems such as England and the U.S., and family service-oriented child welfare systems such as Norway (Gilbert et al., 2011). We use a case vignette method to analyze how 299 child welfare workers from England, Norway and California (U.S.) assess risk. The case vignette describes the case of ‘Beatrice’, a nine year-old girl of Black African descent who was born with an organic heart disease and a cleft palate. We found that respondents from California assessed the risk to be the lowest, followed by respondents from England and Norway. The risk factors that respondents highlighted as important for their assessment also varied significantly between countries, displaying different perceptions of elements in a case constituting risk. Respondents from Norway, who, comparatively, practice within the context of the least regulated assessment platform, identified the most homogenous assessments and types of reasoning, whereas both the assessment of risk levels and identifications of risk factors were more heterogeneous among workers in England and California. We argue that the different risk assessment tools only partly influence what workers identify as risk factors in a case, and that type of welfare states and child welfare systems is also an influence. This study thus supports existing scholarship on the distinctions between child welfare systems. However, we also found significant differences in perceptions of risk factors between England and the United States.     

Socioeconomic Differences in Multipartner Fertility Among Norwegian Men

This article analyzes male fertility, with a particular focus on multipartner fertility, for cohorts born 1955 to 1984 in Norway. We find that socioeconomically disadvantaged men have the lowest chance of becoming fathers and the lowest likelihood of fathering multiple children in stable unions. Multipartner fertility, on the other hand, is positively associated with both disadvantage and advantage: higher-order birth risks with a new partner are more prevalent among men with low as well as high socioeconomic status. An intervening factor among disadvantaged men may be a higher union dissolution risk, and an elevated risk among advantaged men may be associated with their higher preferences for children and other features that make these men more attractive to women as partners and fathers of future children.