Gendering the Political Economy of Labour Market Policies

This book is a re-interpretation of labour market policy models from a gender perspective, providing an analysis of within-gender inequality and how these policies affect inequality. It sheds light on the internal and external challenges confronting different gendered political economies, with distinct constellations of adjustment problems and reform agendas to incorporate women into the labour market. As such, the book shows how female political mobilization can influence labour market policy-making process. The target audience of this book is made by researchers and postgraduate students in the disciplines of sociology, gender studies, political science, political economy, and practitioners working in the fields of welfare policies and gender labour market services.

Rosa Mulè is Associate Professor in Comparative Political Economy at the University of Bologna. Her main research interests are in comparative political economy, comparative welfare systems, gender studies and political parties. She has published several books and articles on political economy, public policy, subsidiarity, regional political economy, welfare states. Among her recent publications, Spaces of subsidiarity. Diverging polities and policies, Special Issue, Commonwealth & Comparative Politics, 2019 (guest editor with G. Walzenbach); Varieties of Capital and Gender Party Office in Italy, Modern Italy. 2021 (with Paola Bordandini). Roberto Rizza is Professor in Economic Sociology and Comparative Labour Market Policies at the University of Bologna. His research focuses on labour market policy and social inclusion, work-life balance, active ageing. Recent publications: (2021) "Organization matters. Policy entrepreneurship among Street-Level Bureaucrats in public employment services. Insights from an Italian case-study", in International Review of Sociology; (2021) "Women and pensions in Italy: gender imbalances and the equalization of retirement age", in Frontiers in Sociology; (2021) "When the workplace is the home. Labour inspectors' discretionary power in the field of domestic work: an institutional analysis", in Journal of Public Policy; (2021) "Who receives occupational welfare? The importance of skills across Europe's diverse industrial relations regimes", in Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research.

1. Varieties of Gendered Political Economies 2. Gender trade-offs, paradoxes, and complementarities 3. Models of gendered labour market policy 4. Active social policy and women's political mobilization 5. Varieties of labour market policy regimes: 'between-gender' and 'within-gender' income inequality before, during and after the Great Recession Conclusions