When family policies do not work...

WHEN FAMILY POLICIES DO NOT WORK... The cash-for-care reform and mothers' employment. The significance of family policies for mothers' employment practices - a much debated matter in the international welfare state literature is discussed in this article. The analysis focuses on the unexpectedly modest effects of a cash-for-care reform introduced in Norway in 1998: Parents with children 1-2 years old receive a cash grant if they do not use publicly subsidised child care. A large majority of parents receive the grant, but mothers' time in employment is more or less as before. The explanation can be found in the interplay between the political process shaping the intent and content of the reform, and gaps between reform assumptions about family life and mothers' actual context of action. It is argued that the reform underestimates and runs contrary to profound social and economic trends. The analysis points towards a conceptual framework beyond a simplistic model of economic rationality and an outdated opposition between stay-at-home-mothers' and working mothers', and underscores the importance of integrating labour market concerns into the analysis.