Feminist criticism has uncovered significant differences in the approach of welfare states to women’s employment and the family not captured by more mainstream, class-based approaches. At the same time, a coherent explanation for gendered variation has been slow to develop. Exploring the French, German, and Swedish cases, this article develops a theory of welfare-state development that links the welfare state’s approach to women and the family to the state’s response to labor-market conditions during crucial periods of labor shortage. These three cases suggest a trade-off between the economy’s dependence on immigrant labor and the welfare state’s willingness to adapt to the specific interests of working mothers. This suggests a link between seemingly unrelated differences in immigration policy and the state’s support for working mothers.
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