The Welfare State as a Means for Gender Equality — Presentation Detail — Celebration of Scholars

Instructions

Student presentations must have a faculty sponsor.

Abstracts must include a title and a description of the research, scholarship, or creative work. The description should be 150-225 words in length and constructed in a format or style appropriate for the presenter’s discipline.

The following points should be addressed within the selected format or style for the abstract:

A clear statement of the problem or question you pursued, or the scholarly goal or creative theme achieved in your work.
A brief comment about the significance or uniqueness of the work.
A clear description of the methods used to achieve the purpose or goals for the work.
A statement of the conclusions, results, outcomes, or recommendations, or if the work is still in progress, the results you expect to report at the event.

Presenter photographs should be head and shoulder shots comparable to passport photos.

Additional Information

More information is available at carthage.edu/celebration-scholars/. The following are members of the Research, Scholarship, and Creativity Committee who are eager to listen to ideas and answer questions:

Jun Wang
Kim Instenes
John Kirk
Nora Nickels
Andrew Pustina
James Ripley

The Welfare State as a Means for Gender Equality

Name: Samantha Meszaros
Major: History and Political Science
Hometown: Crystal Lake, IL
Faculty Sponsor:
Other Sponsors:
Type of research: Senior thesis

Abstract

Today’s women are encouraged to “have it all” meaning a successful career and an active family life. However, many women find that obtaining this lifestyle and maintaining a healthy balance is unattainable. This thesis largely focuses on working mothers of young children in Scandinavian countries and the effects of the Welfare State policies on women’s lives. The evidence used to explore the Welfare State gender policies and its effects is literature and theories of the daily “shifts” that women are responsible for. Furthermore, it will examine Welfare State policies of maternity and family leave and state-sponsored childcare. Finally, theories of occupational discrimination, critical theory of public policy, and feminist theory will be used to explain the outcomes of the policies. This research demonstrates that women face difficulties balancing work and family and these difficulties prevent them from gaining equality within the workforce. Ultimately, these difficulties resulted in the creation of policies, such as maternity and family leave and state-sponsored childcare. Analysis of these policies suggest that while women do become more active in the paid workforce, the inequalities that they face may be furthered by the same policies meant to help them. Thus, while the Scandinavian Model does slightly improve the daily task of balancing work and family that women face, it lacks the cultural shift that is necessary to challenge the traditional conception of gender.

Poster file