Browsing by Subject "The Nordic welfare states"

This thesis explores the intersections of gender equality, parenthood, and the Nordic welfare state with an aim to investigate the equality paradox embedded within the Nordic welfare model. The gender equality paradox refers to the contradictory situation in egalitarian Nordic countries where women still face persistent inequality while state-driven initiatives unintentionally create new challenges for them. This thesis conduct a case study on the Finnish childcare regime after the 2022 reform. This regime embodies an aggregate framework encompassing all aspects of childcare policies, including the paid parental leave system, Home Care Allowance, and Early Childhood Education and Services. Through the lens of Nancy Fraser's care-work models, this thesis questions how the Finnish childcare regime recognises and potentially resolves the gender equality paradox by a contextual analysis of the regime’s development and current policy design data. The main finding indicates that the newly reformed Finnish childcare regime presents an “equality within difference” scenario rather than pursuing shared care and breadwinning as in Fraser’s universal caregiver model. Firstly, the latest reform shows the ambition towards gender equality, yet there is a split between political ambition and the private sphere. Secondly, while the principle of freedom of choice embedded in the Finnish childcare policy ostensibly empowers parents to make individual decisions autonomously, parental choices seem to be influenced more by necessity than freedom. This thesis identifies a tension in the Finnish childcare regime between promoting gender equality and preserving freedom of choice, revealing a contradicting political logic. Although providing an ostensibly gender-equal policy structure, the childcare regime in Finland falls short of adequately addressing the persistent equality dilemmas faced by women.