Gender, Work, & Family in Cross-Cultural Perspectives

Denmark’s policy for childcare is not to merely watch children, but to improve their upbringing in a healthy environment and to allow parents to work.

Working Mothers Need Childcare

With Denmark’s high fertility rates (1.8) and high female employment rates, the demands for childcare have increased.

When the full-time mother model became outdated throughout different countries, national welfare states promoted different ideals of care, which were motivated by the women’s movement:

Table: Percentage of Children 0-3 in State Subsidized Child Care, 1985-2000

	Around 1985 - 1990	Around 1995	Around 2000
Denmark	48%	48%	56%

Denmark: The Ideal of Professional Child-Care

Denmark has some of the highest numbers of children in state subsidized childcare in Europe.

As of 2000:

112,000 children attended kindergarten and 120,000 children attend institutions that integrate children 0-13.
470,000 children between the ages of 4 and 13 years attend after school care.
Total Danish child population: 54% 0-2 year olds, 90% of 3-5 year olds, and 75% of 6-9 year olds attend after school-care

Danish children are cared for by the best trained professional workers compared to other countries.

Denmark’s childcare workers must have three years or higher education and have a recognized title, “social pedagogues.”

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Reference:

Fine-Davis, Margret, Jeanne Fagnani, Dino Giovannini, Lis Hojgaard and Hilary Clarke. 2004. "Chapter 4 Denmark." Pp. 41 in Fathers and Mothers: Dilemmas of the Work-Life Balance. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Gornick, Janet C. and Marcia K. Meyers. 2003. Families that Work: Policies for Reconciling Parenthood and Employment. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

Kremer, Monique. 2006. "The Politics of Ideals of Care: Danish and Flemish Child Care Policy Compared." Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society 3(2): 261-285.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark. 2008. “Society and Welfare,” Retrieved April 2008 http://www.denmark.dk/en/servicemenu/Links/SocietyAndWelfare.htm.