Living Together Without Getting Married

Living Together Without Getting Married

How is cohabitation acknowledged in family policies across Europe?
Relationships, their typology and meanings have profoundly changed over the past decades in Western societies. These changes constitute an important challenge for welfare states because policies need to take into account new living arrangements in order to support all types of families. Nora Sánchez Gassen and Brienna Perelli-Harris examine the incidence of cohabitation and match it with the associated legal regulation across eleven European countries and Russia in order to quantify the number of couples that fall outside the scope of classical family policies.
News: Between work and (more) children

Between work and (more) children

Parental leave in Central and Eastern Europe
The European Commission’s new roadmap on work-life balance for families seeks to im­prove labour market participation of women. Women’s employment, asserts the Commis­sion, is “tightly linked to the distribution of work and family responsibilities between men and women” and, consequently, gender gaps in pay and pensions [1].
Population Europe Inter-Faces: Tom Emery

Population Europe Inter-Faces: Tom Emery

An interview with Tom Emery (Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute, Erasmus University Rotterdam) on family support. Questions: 1. The media often report about increasing numbers of young adults depending on long-term financial support from their parents. But none of my friends or myself actually receive this kind of support – so, how dependent is this generation on their parents? 2. Who are the “lucky few”? Do they all have wealthy parents or are there any other common characteristics?
Population Europe Inter-Faces: Michaela Kreyenfeld

Population Europe Inter-Faces: Michaela Kreyenfeld

An interview with Michaela Kreyenfeld (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research) on fatherhood. Questions: 1. My former partner and I split up some years ago, but I am still very involved in the upbringing of our child. However, I often feel that separated fathers have quite a bad image – what is the reality in Europe? 2. What are the main factors that influence the level of contact a father has after a separation? 3. To what extent can policies and legal frameworks influence the behaviour of fathers?
Boosting Children’s Lifetime Chances in Times of Diverse Family Forms

Boosting Children’s Lifetime Chances in Times of Diverse Family Forms

Download Population & Policy Compact 07/2014 (866.05 KB)
Key Messages:  The impact of family dissolution on children varies considerably and lasting effects persist for only a minority. To prevent negative consequences of family dissolution on children’s development, policies should prevent economic downward mobility and provide support to children and parents to adapt to new family dynamics and forms. Life chances of children depend more strongly on the socio-economic background of their parents than on the family form they are living in.
Books and Reports: Fatherhood In The Nordic Welfare States - Comparing Care Policies and Practice

Fatherhood In The Nordic Welfare States - Comparing Care Policies and Practice

Abstract and Download Details
The five Nordic countries, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, are well-known for their extensive welfare system and gender equality which provides both parents with opportunities to earn and care for their children. In this topical book, expert scholars from the Nordic countries, as well as UK and the US, demonstrate how modern fatherhood is supported in the Nordic setting through family and social policies, and how these contribute to shaping and influencing the images, roles and practices of fathers in a diversity of family settings and variations of fatherhoods.
Books and Reports: European Policy Brief: Parental Separation, Child Well-Being And Family Policies In Europe

European Policy Brief: Parental Separation, Child Well-Being And Family Policies In Europe

It is well-known that family configurations have become more and more diverse over the last decades. Single-parent families, cohabiting families of the opposite or same sex, and intergenerational households are only examples of the current diversity. In Europe, family structures still vary substantially among countries. For instance, in 2011 the number of live births outside marriage ranged from 7.4% in Greece to 65% in Iceland. However, trends over time have substantially increased everywhere.
Solomonic Choices. Parental Separation and Family Policies in Europe*

Solomonic Choices. Parental Separation and Family Policies in Europe*

First FamiliesAndSocieties Stakeholder Seminar
A non-affluent socioeconomic background and family disruptions, such as parent separation, may have an impact on the life chances of children. But so far, empirical evidence is quite scarce. What are the consequences of parental separation for the future of children? And to what extent can policy interventions prevent adverse consequences associated with it? These were the main questions discussed at the first FamiliesAndSocieties Stakeholder Seminar in Brussels. The event was chaired by Fabrizio Bernardi from the European University Institute.
Subscribe to Family Policies