Conference Presentations by Edna Falorca da Costa
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The gendered division of labor is one crucial obstacle to gender equality which the welfare state... more The gendered division of labor is one crucial obstacle to gender equality which the welfare states have been targeting through reconciliation policies, mediators of the work and family spheres. Informed by mainstream welfare policies research and feminist approaches, this paper undertakes a comparative analysis of reconciliation policies and how they regulate both the participation in paid work and caring responsibilities in South European countries. These countries have been experiencing a severe and
prolonged economic crisis since the late 2000s. Signs of economic recovery remain weak and austerity measures continue to dominate in the region. The paper firstly focuses on the development of three core policy instruments - parental leaves, childcare services and taxation – in each of the four countries until the early 2000’s moves on to considering the impact of the financial crisis on such policies and concludes with the challenges these four countries face in the post-crisis period regarding the balance between work and care.
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The concept of «fiscal welfare» recently became more relevant in the literature on welfare regime... more The concept of «fiscal welfare» recently became more relevant in the literature on welfare regimes emphasizing the State's net social effort instead of the traditional analyses relying on direct public spending. This paper will focus on the tax system as an element of indirect social spending both on account of its growing share of government budgets and its broader social and political ramifications. Using the OECD Social Expenditure Database and government budgets and outlays, we show the evolution of indirect social spending in Portugal since the ‘80s, focusing tax breaks for social purposes in Health, Education and Housing. We will further explore its effects regarding democratic quality and equity in the provision of social rights, in matters such as income redistribution, balance between public and private welfare provision and accountability of the policy-making process. Finally, the paper engages the welfare regime literature (and traditional measures for social welfare effort) by comparing the data on indirect social spending between reference countries (including Southern Europe) and analyzing the resulting variations and potential reorganization of the welfare state clusters. To this end, it draws on different theories on welfare regimes, regarding its origin, convergence and retrenchment, role of partisan orientations and of potential veto points.
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The 20th century witnessed two major transformations: the development of the Welfare State and th... more The 20th century witnessed two major transformations: the development of the Welfare State and the Gender Revolution. One dominant feature of this process was the rise in women’s participation in paid work while simultaneously remaining responsible for the family’s well-being. The gendered division of labor is thus one crucial obstacle to Gender Equality which the Welfare States have been targeting through reconciliation policies, mediators of the work and family spheres.
Our study will focus on three core instruments of reconciliation policy – parental leaves, childcare services and taxation – between the 80’s and 2007 in Southern Europe (Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece),starting by isolating the results from the effects of the financial crisis.
Informed by mainstream welfare policies research and feminist approaches, we aim at explaining why the welfare regimes produce distinct outcomes in gender equality levels in the spheres of work and family, despite many similar conditions found in the four countries.
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Apesar de marginalizado na maioria das análises dos Estados-Providência, vários autores sublinham... more Apesar de marginalizado na maioria das análises dos Estados-Providência, vários autores sublinham o papel da política fiscal enquanto instrumento de redistribuição (Castles e Mitchell, 1993) e de promoção de modelos específicos de família e de relações no seio da família (Land 1983 e Bergmann 1986).
Assim, a sua configuração pode promover ou penalizar o modelo de duplo provedor e a subjacente inserção de homem e mulher no mercado de trabalho. De facto, a conceção do sistema tributário e de incentivos fiscais influenciam a independência financeira da mulher na família através de (des)incentivos ao rendimento por ela auferido bem como através dos efeitos redistributivos no rendimento disponível dos diferentes elementos do agregado familiar.
Nesta apresentação, serão dois tipos de discriminação que têm impacto negativo ao nível da independência económica feminina e da igualdade de género no mercado de trabalho e na família - a discriminação do segundo provedor e a discriminação do trabalho não-remunerado - no contexto europeu.
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Thesis Chapters by Edna Falorca da Costa
This dissertation is concerned with the study of work-family balance in Portugal and Spain betwee... more This dissertation is concerned with the study of work-family balance in Portugal and Spain between the early nineties and 2012. This topic has been at the centre of political and academic debate in recent decades as the share of families with two working adults and small children have significantly increased in Western societies. As a result, traditional strategies for the articulation of the work and the family spheres have been put in question and claims for more gender balanced options have become widespread.
In contrast with most west European countries, the Iberian democracies experienced the main transformations in the work and family spheres after a long period of right-wing authoritarian rule. This entails that changes occurred in opposition to the authoritarian legacy and alongside with the consolidation of similar civil, political, social and economic rights. Nonetheless, both countries do in fact present distinct patterns in work-family arrangements and this variation makes them a particularly relevant object of comparative research, still widely unexplored.
This study conceptualizes strategies for work-family balance and the gendered variation they entail within a capabilities-based approach, thus seeking to understand the extent to which real, unconstrained choice is equally available for women and men. In the study of work-family balance this translates as the freedom to choose between labour market participation and care, which are defined as equally valuable options. Empirically, this involves the analysis of factors that operate at the individual, institutional and cultural levels and which shape capabilities for balancing work and care. This dissertation argues that women’s and men’s choices are bound up with the real opportunities they have to choose and therefore gender inequalities in capabilities may correspond to similar inequalities in the division of labour.
Key findings show that globally the modernization of work-family arrangements between the early nineties and 2012 does correspond to a pattern of enhanced capabilities in the articulation of work and family in both countries. Notwithstanding, Spain displays greater imbalances in the division of work and care than the neighbouring country which reflect weaker institutional resources, namely at the policy level. In the case of Portugal, more motherhood-centred cultural values do not seem to constrain the participation of both women and men in the labour market as it coexists with a high value attributed to paid work. This study further emphasizes that gender inequalities in both facets of the work-family nexus are still visible in Portugal as in Spain. Indeed, capabilities for balancing work and care are not similar for women and for men and this imbalance has become especially evident in the institutional factors that support it.
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The present thesis concerns the under-representation of women in politics, focusing essentially o... more The present thesis concerns the under-representation of women in politics, focusing essentially on the Portuguese case and the European Union, the regional block in which it
belongs. The first approach was aimed at the explorat
ion of the theoretical grounds of the basic concepts to this study such as democracy, parity and representativity, emphasizing not only the factors that influence women’s political participation the most but also the most relevant incrementation strategies. The second part focused on the analysis of the Portuguese case, more specifically on the
evolution of women’s representation at the different levels of political power since 1974, as well as on the legal developments which have dominated this debate; led mainly by the political parties. The last chapter presents a Case Study on the Social Democrat Party (PSD), which intends
to analyze both the ideological evolution of the party and its political praxis concerning the election of women, through the assessment of the strategies adopted by the different
leaders from its foundation to the present days.
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Papers by Edna Falorca da Costa
This paper studies social tax expenditures as an instrument of social policy, considering its bro... more This paper studies social tax expenditures as an instrument of social policy, considering its broader social and political ramifications, particularly regressive distributive impacts, the targeting of social protection and making markets for non-state providers. Using OECD data and government budgets, we look at ‘tax breaks for social purposes’ in Portugal since the 1980s, with a focus on healthcare, educational and mortgage loan expenses. Portugal presents a comparatively high level of TBSP before the Great Recession. Why? Using Portugal as a theory-developing case, the paper argues that in the critical juncture following the late, double transition to democracy and structural economic reform, tax and welfare state developments combined to create social tax expenditures as a modality of targeted social expenditure favouring middle and higher strata. Once in place, a combination of powerful vested interests, obscure policy-making, regressive income distribution and high take-up rate across taxpaying groups obtained a path-dependent outcome, keeping inegalitarian and costly fiscal welfare growing during adverse fiscal conditions. Such a resilient outcome was curbed only in 2011 by the harsh conditionality of the economic and financial adjustment programme of the Portuguese bailout, an instance of how deep crises provide opportunities for path-shifting reconfigurations of social policy.
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Books by Edna Falorca da Costa
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Conference Presentations by Edna Falorca da Costa
prolonged economic crisis since the late 2000s. Signs of economic recovery remain weak and austerity measures continue to dominate in the region. The paper firstly focuses on the development of three core policy instruments - parental leaves, childcare services and taxation – in each of the four countries until the early 2000’s moves on to considering the impact of the financial crisis on such policies and concludes with the challenges these four countries face in the post-crisis period regarding the balance between work and care.
Our study will focus on three core instruments of reconciliation policy – parental leaves, childcare services and taxation – between the 80’s and 2007 in Southern Europe (Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece),starting by isolating the results from the effects of the financial crisis.
Informed by mainstream welfare policies research and feminist approaches, we aim at explaining why the welfare regimes produce distinct outcomes in gender equality levels in the spheres of work and family, despite many similar conditions found in the four countries.
Assim, a sua configuração pode promover ou penalizar o modelo de duplo provedor e a subjacente inserção de homem e mulher no mercado de trabalho. De facto, a conceção do sistema tributário e de incentivos fiscais influenciam a independência financeira da mulher na família através de (des)incentivos ao rendimento por ela auferido bem como através dos efeitos redistributivos no rendimento disponível dos diferentes elementos do agregado familiar.
Nesta apresentação, serão dois tipos de discriminação que têm impacto negativo ao nível da independência económica feminina e da igualdade de género no mercado de trabalho e na família - a discriminação do segundo provedor e a discriminação do trabalho não-remunerado - no contexto europeu.
Thesis Chapters by Edna Falorca da Costa
In contrast with most west European countries, the Iberian democracies experienced the main transformations in the work and family spheres after a long period of right-wing authoritarian rule. This entails that changes occurred in opposition to the authoritarian legacy and alongside with the consolidation of similar civil, political, social and economic rights. Nonetheless, both countries do in fact present distinct patterns in work-family arrangements and this variation makes them a particularly relevant object of comparative research, still widely unexplored.
This study conceptualizes strategies for work-family balance and the gendered variation they entail within a capabilities-based approach, thus seeking to understand the extent to which real, unconstrained choice is equally available for women and men. In the study of work-family balance this translates as the freedom to choose between labour market participation and care, which are defined as equally valuable options. Empirically, this involves the analysis of factors that operate at the individual, institutional and cultural levels and which shape capabilities for balancing work and care. This dissertation argues that women’s and men’s choices are bound up with the real opportunities they have to choose and therefore gender inequalities in capabilities may correspond to similar inequalities in the division of labour.
Key findings show that globally the modernization of work-family arrangements between the early nineties and 2012 does correspond to a pattern of enhanced capabilities in the articulation of work and family in both countries. Notwithstanding, Spain displays greater imbalances in the division of work and care than the neighbouring country which reflect weaker institutional resources, namely at the policy level. In the case of Portugal, more motherhood-centred cultural values do not seem to constrain the participation of both women and men in the labour market as it coexists with a high value attributed to paid work. This study further emphasizes that gender inequalities in both facets of the work-family nexus are still visible in Portugal as in Spain. Indeed, capabilities for balancing work and care are not similar for women and for men and this imbalance has become especially evident in the institutional factors that support it.
belongs. The first approach was aimed at the explorat
ion of the theoretical grounds of the basic concepts to this study such as democracy, parity and representativity, emphasizing not only the factors that influence women’s political participation the most but also the most relevant incrementation strategies. The second part focused on the analysis of the Portuguese case, more specifically on the
evolution of women’s representation at the different levels of political power since 1974, as well as on the legal developments which have dominated this debate; led mainly by the political parties. The last chapter presents a Case Study on the Social Democrat Party (PSD), which intends
to analyze both the ideological evolution of the party and its political praxis concerning the election of women, through the assessment of the strategies adopted by the different
leaders from its foundation to the present days.
Papers by Edna Falorca da Costa
Books by Edna Falorca da Costa
prolonged economic crisis since the late 2000s. Signs of economic recovery remain weak and austerity measures continue to dominate in the region. The paper firstly focuses on the development of three core policy instruments - parental leaves, childcare services and taxation – in each of the four countries until the early 2000’s moves on to considering the impact of the financial crisis on such policies and concludes with the challenges these four countries face in the post-crisis period regarding the balance between work and care.
Our study will focus on three core instruments of reconciliation policy – parental leaves, childcare services and taxation – between the 80’s and 2007 in Southern Europe (Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece),starting by isolating the results from the effects of the financial crisis.
Informed by mainstream welfare policies research and feminist approaches, we aim at explaining why the welfare regimes produce distinct outcomes in gender equality levels in the spheres of work and family, despite many similar conditions found in the four countries.
Assim, a sua configuração pode promover ou penalizar o modelo de duplo provedor e a subjacente inserção de homem e mulher no mercado de trabalho. De facto, a conceção do sistema tributário e de incentivos fiscais influenciam a independência financeira da mulher na família através de (des)incentivos ao rendimento por ela auferido bem como através dos efeitos redistributivos no rendimento disponível dos diferentes elementos do agregado familiar.
Nesta apresentação, serão dois tipos de discriminação que têm impacto negativo ao nível da independência económica feminina e da igualdade de género no mercado de trabalho e na família - a discriminação do segundo provedor e a discriminação do trabalho não-remunerado - no contexto europeu.
In contrast with most west European countries, the Iberian democracies experienced the main transformations in the work and family spheres after a long period of right-wing authoritarian rule. This entails that changes occurred in opposition to the authoritarian legacy and alongside with the consolidation of similar civil, political, social and economic rights. Nonetheless, both countries do in fact present distinct patterns in work-family arrangements and this variation makes them a particularly relevant object of comparative research, still widely unexplored.
This study conceptualizes strategies for work-family balance and the gendered variation they entail within a capabilities-based approach, thus seeking to understand the extent to which real, unconstrained choice is equally available for women and men. In the study of work-family balance this translates as the freedom to choose between labour market participation and care, which are defined as equally valuable options. Empirically, this involves the analysis of factors that operate at the individual, institutional and cultural levels and which shape capabilities for balancing work and care. This dissertation argues that women’s and men’s choices are bound up with the real opportunities they have to choose and therefore gender inequalities in capabilities may correspond to similar inequalities in the division of labour.
Key findings show that globally the modernization of work-family arrangements between the early nineties and 2012 does correspond to a pattern of enhanced capabilities in the articulation of work and family in both countries. Notwithstanding, Spain displays greater imbalances in the division of work and care than the neighbouring country which reflect weaker institutional resources, namely at the policy level. In the case of Portugal, more motherhood-centred cultural values do not seem to constrain the participation of both women and men in the labour market as it coexists with a high value attributed to paid work. This study further emphasizes that gender inequalities in both facets of the work-family nexus are still visible in Portugal as in Spain. Indeed, capabilities for balancing work and care are not similar for women and for men and this imbalance has become especially evident in the institutional factors that support it.
belongs. The first approach was aimed at the explorat
ion of the theoretical grounds of the basic concepts to this study such as democracy, parity and representativity, emphasizing not only the factors that influence women’s political participation the most but also the most relevant incrementation strategies. The second part focused on the analysis of the Portuguese case, more specifically on the
evolution of women’s representation at the different levels of political power since 1974, as well as on the legal developments which have dominated this debate; led mainly by the political parties. The last chapter presents a Case Study on the Social Democrat Party (PSD), which intends
to analyze both the ideological evolution of the party and its political praxis concerning the election of women, through the assessment of the strategies adopted by the different
leaders from its foundation to the present days.