oa Streven naar het Scandinavische model?

Towards the Scandinavian model? Effects of parental leave schemes on the labour market position of women

Increasing the labour market participation and emancipation of women has been and still seems to be one of the major socio-economic policy goals for Dutch policy makers. The new coalition agreement mentions an extension of parental leave rights, and a further granting of parental leave by means of life course policies as potential effective policies in this respect. This paper endeavours to provide insights in the labour market, income, and emancipation effects of these policies. For that purpose it reviews the relevant theoretical and empirical literature on the effects of career breaks and places the effects in the context of the welfare state. The paper concludes with a trade-off: extension of parental leave rights may lead to better job possibilities for women, but this effect tends to go together with lower wages, and less career prospects for women in general.