Costs of Children

Edited by the late David G. Mayes, formerly Professor of Banking and Financial Institutions, Director, Europe Institute and Director, NZ Governance Centre, University of Auckland, New Zealand and Mark Thomson, Research Fellow, Europe Institute, The University of Auckland, New Zealand

• Contents: Preface 1. Introduction: Childcare and Democracy in the EUDavid G. Mayes and Mark Thomson2. Social Regimes and Gender Equality: Childcare in the EUMark Thomson3. Valuation of Children and ChildcareArnlaug Leira4. Childcare Politics and the Norwegian Fertility ‘Machine’Anne Lise Ellingsæter5. A Market for Childcare Services? Private Provision and Public Finance in the Dutch Childcare SectorJanneke Plantenga6. The Impact of Childcare Costs for Northern Irish FemalesRachel Dennison and Nora Smith7. What Stops Lone Mothers from Working? Insights from the UK’s Millennium Cohort StudyShireen Kanji8. The Costs of Caring for Children Before and After Divorce: Contradictory Legal Messages and their Gendered EffectsKirsten Scheiwe9. Out of the Frying Pan, into the Fire: Hungarian Parental Leave Policies from a Gender Equality PerspectiveRóza Vajda10. Childcare as Intergenerational SupportKaroliina Majamaa11. Costs and Consequences for Carers of Vulnerable Children in AustraliaMarilyn McHugh12. High-qualified Women and the Gendered Division of Domestic Labour: An Exploratory Analysis from the Field of PhotonicsIneke Casier, Alison Woodward, Machteld De Metsenaere and Elke Van den Brandt13. Redistributing the Costs of Childcare and its Democratic ImplicationsDavid G. Mayes and Mark ThomsonIndex

'Finally, here is a book that provides a long-overdue holistic analysis of childcare. Written in a clear style, The Costs of Children breaks new ground in demonstrating how political choices about childcare have different impacts on equality of opportunity in Europe. After reading this book, one never again will view childcare as a private concern. It is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand the realities of European integration, democratic policy-making and the gendered consequences of bearing and rearing children.'