Women's Participation at the Labor Market, Patterns of Work Career and the Role of the State

We discuss the relationship between industrialization and the establishment of the male breadwinner model family, as well as the one which has replaced it in most industrial countries of the West - the two breadwinners model family. In the second part of the article we point out the importance of the institutional context and, especially of different aspects of the relation state-family. Those differences can influence women's decision to participate at the labor market and their pattern of work career, as well as make it more easier or difficult to reconcile work and family duties, especially if the couple or lone-parent have underage children. We discuss the role of the state in the space of two conceptual frameworks: Esping-Andersen's typology of the welfare state and Mosesdottir's typology of the state regimes of gender relations.