Combining work and care in the polder model: an assessment of the Dutch part-time strategy

Abstract

Working time is an important ingredient in the Dutch `polder model'. In particular, part-time employment has proven to be an important element on the road towards full employment. Part-time employment is also an important element in the so-called `combination model', a model that has been adopted by the Dutch government as the main guideline for policies in the field of labour and care. The point of departure of the combination model is a balanced combination of paid and unpaid care, where unpaid care work is shared equally between men and women and both work part-time for pay. The article looks at the consequences of this part-time strategy from an equal opportunities perspective. It concludes that for women the popularity of part-time work has resulted in a destandardization and individualization of working hours. The combined effects of both gender and the specific working time policy has been to create a one-and-a-half earner society. Given the half income of women, the polder model has not as yet resulted in a remedy for the socioeconomic inequality between men and women.

Keywords

care models employment Netherlands women

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

CBS (1992) EBB (Enquete Beroepsbevolking) . Voorburg/Heerlen: CBS.

Cbs (1996) EBB (Enquete Beroepsbevolking) . Voorburg/Heerlen: CBS.

CBS (1999) EBB (Enquete Beroepsbevolking) . Voorburg/Heerlen: CBS.

Commissie Toekomstscenario's (1995) Onbetaalde zorg gelijk verdeeld. Toekomstscenario's voor herverdeling van onbetaalde arbeid / Commissie Toekomstscenario's Herverdeling Onbetaalde Arbeid . Den Haag: Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid.

Eurostat (1998) Labour Force Survey 1997. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.

Eurostat (2000) Labour Force Survey 1999. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.

Fraser, N. (1997) `After the Family Wage: A Postindustrial Thought Experiment', pp. 21-55 in B. Hobson and A. M. Berggren (eds) Crossing Borders: Gender and Citizenship in Transition. Stockholm: Swedish Council for Planning and Coordination of Research.

Freeman, R.B. (1998) `War of the Models: Which Labour Market Institutions for the 21st Century?', Labour Economics 5(1): 1-24.

NAP (1999) National Action Plan for Employment 1999. Den Haag: Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid.

10.

NAP (2001) National Action Plan for Employment 2001. Den Haag: Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid

11.

Oecd (1998) `Working Hours: Latest Trends and Policy Initiatives', pp. 153-88 in Employment Outlook 1998. Paris: OECD.

12.

Plantenga, J. (1998) `Double Lives: Labour Market Participation, Citizenship and Gender', pp. 51-64 in J. Bussemaker and R. Voet (eds) Gender, Participation and Citizenship in the Netherlands. Aldershot: Ashgate.

13.

Plantenga, J. (2000) `Deeltijd in de polder. Tussen collective belangen en individuele preferenties', pp. 43-56 in W. Salverda (ed.) De houdbaarheid van het Nederlandse `model'. Verder met loonmatiging en deeltijdarbeid? `s-Gravenhage: Elsevier bedrijfsinformatie.

14.

Plantenga, J. and Dur, R. (1998) `Working Time Reduction in the Netherlands: Past Developments and Future Prospects', Transfer 4(4): 678-91.

15.

Plantenga, J. , Schippers, J. and Siegers, J. (1999) `Towards an Equal Division of Paid and Unpaid Work: The Case of the Netherlands', Journal of European Social Policy 9(2): 99-110.

16.

Rubery, J. and Fagan, C. (1993) Occupational Segregation of Women and Men in the European Community, Social Europe, supplement 3/93. Luxembourg : Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.

17.

Schettkat, R. and Reijnders, J. (1999) The Disease that Became a Model: The Economics Behind the Employment Trends in the Netherlands, working paper no. 120. Washington: Economic Policy Institute.

18.

STAR (Stichting van de Arbeid) (1993) Overwegingen en aanbevelingen ter bevordering van deeltijdarbeid en differentiatie in arbeidsduurpatronen. `s-Gravenhage.

19.

Strell, M. and Duncan, S. (2001) `Lone Motherhood, Ideal Type Care Regimes and the Case of Austria', Journal of European Social Policy 11(2): 149-64.

20.

SZW (Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en werkgelegenheid) (2000) Van vrouwenstrijd naar vanzelfsprekendheid. Meerjarennota Emancipatiebeleid. Den Haag: Directie Coordinatie Emancipatiebeleid.

21.

Visser, J. (1999a) `De sociologie van het halve werk', Mens en Maatschappij 74(4): 333-59.

22.

Visser, J. (1999b) De sociologie van het halve werk. Oratie uitgesproken ter gelegenheid van de aanvaarding van de benoeming als hoogleraar empirische sociologie aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam.

23.

Visser, J. and Hemerijck, A. (1997) A Dutch Miracle: Job Growth, Welfare Reform and Corporatism in the Netherlands. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.