The OECD has long argued that the ultimate goal of public policies is to improve the quality of our lives. But what makes us happy? Does living in a country guaranteeing equal rights and opportunities to women and men increase people’s happiness? This paper shows that gender based...

Gaps in welfare attainment between boys and girls in China have attracted international attention. In this paper demand analysis is used to try and uncover the factors which may be driving the emergence of the gender gaps. Drawing on household expenditure data from a poor (Sichuan) and rich...

The main goal of this study was to assess the impact of participation in Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysiaís (AIM) microcredit program on the empowerment among urban low-income women in Peninsular Malaysia. To attain the above mentioned objective, this study utilized a cross-sectional design using...

Previous research has shown that fathers taking some time off work around childbirth, especially periods of leave of 2 or more weeks, are more likely to be involved in childcare related activities than fathers who do not do so. Furthermore, evidence suggests that children with fathers who are...

More mothers with young children are in paid work than in the past. There is a long-running debate on possible negative effects of maternal employment on child development. For the first time, this paper presents an initial comparative analysis of longitudinal data on maternal employment...

This paper investigates the gendered effects of the cost-of-living crisis on households across six European countries using household consumption data linked to price changes between April 2021 and July 2023. It examines how different consumption patterns between male- and female-headed...

The author wants to note that welfare reform is but one part of what is happening politically to gender relations, to women, and to poor mothers, even within the system of income support, in the United States. Of particular importance within income support is the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC),...

The paper examines the gender relations upsheld by the Italian welfare state, and points out that the reforms of cash transfer programs, which took place after 1992, reinforce the "male -breadwinner/female -housekeeper" model.

The question as to whether or not 'gender matters' in the issue of the delivery of care may seem a very odd one, given the enormous literature that has developed within a number of social science disciplines that takes gender relations as the primary perspective in the analysis of care. However,...

This paper investigates how financial autonomy develops in young adults and under what circumstances that development process is hastened or hindered. The paper uses longitudinal data from the Household, Income, and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey for persons aged 15-25, thus...