Alternative European Models of Women’s Roles in the Family and the Labour Market

Women’s role in the family and the workplace is one of the most widely-discussed and widely-misunderstood issues of modern society. The relative emphasis of women’s work, on production and/or reproduction, has always attracted fiercely ideological debate, among politicians and policy-makers, among feminists and other pressure groups, and even among social scientists. In this heavily ideological discussion, social science research findings contribute only a small voice, one which is frequently ignored. Some social scientists do not even try to remain impartial observers. Instead, they actively engage in advocacy research rather than dispassionate social research, and they seek to contribute to pressure group activities just as often as to academic journals (Rossi 1987). This problem is especially common in feminist research (Gilbert 1997).