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This book focuses on how EU welfare policies are implemented at the local level in 11 European cities and how local policy making addresses women´s care responsibilities. The book studies the complex combination of and the relationships between local political processes, policies, institutions, structural conditions and outputs, as well as outcomes for the women´s labour market integration. It demonstrates how cultural settings and multi-level governance patterns form the "playground" for local policy makers to formulate their welfare policies concerning service provision. The book further demonstrates how local production systems and the situation of the local labour market influence the prospects that women have in working and caring.

EU welfare policy promotes the labour market integration of women as well as gender equality. The provision of adequate care services is vital in supporting women´s employment. Within comparative welfare research, the focus has been on the national welfare systems and policies even if care services are overwhelmingly provided by local authorities that in many EU member states enjoy considerable autonomy. This book fills the gap in understanding local welfare policy making from a comparative perspective.

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PREFACE - Per H Jensen.- List of Contributors .- 1. INTRODUCTION: THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK - Dagmar Kutsar and Marjo Kuronen (possibly with a contribution by Per Jensen).- PART l.- WOMEN´S LOCAL LABOUR MARKETS.- 2. Integration of women to the local labour markets - Nicola Schwindt and Birgit Pfau-Effinger.- 3. Urban economic specialization and female participation in the labour market - Roberta Cucca.- 4. Female Labour Force Participation promoting Social Cohesion - Costanzo Ranci.- PART II.- LOCAL WELFARE POLICY MAKING.- 5. Vertical governance, national regulation and autonomy of local policy making - Marjo Kuronen.- 6. Local policymaking: the playground of ideas, mindsets, strategies and roles - Dagmar Kutsar, Kairi Kasearu and Avo Trumm.- 7. Local Political Resistance: how local agencies ignore, defy or alter national and supranational policy agendas - Eva Fodor and Dorottya Redai.- 8. Centralised governance shaping the local welfare policies in the city of Leeds - Sue Yeandle and Erika Kispeter.- PART III.- LOCAL CHILD CARE POLICY MAKING AND SERVICE PROVISION.- 9. The relationship between local and national childcare policies - Marjo Kuronen, Teppo Kröger, Roberta Cucca, Anna Escobedo Caparrós, Fernando Antón Alonso and Per H Jensen.- 10. Child care systems in post-socialist countries: comparative cases from Brno, Szekesfehervar and Tartu - Martina Kampichler, Dorottya Redai and Dagmar Kutsar.- 11. Local childcare policies impacting the labour force participation of women in Dublin - Evelyn Mahon.- PART IV.- LOCAL CARE POLICIES AND SYSTEMS FOR OLDER PEOPLE.- 12. Local elderly care systems in Europe - Patricia Frericks, Ralf Och, Birgit Pfau-Effinger and Nicola Schwindt.- 13. Local policy making controversies of caring and working - Häli Tarum and Dagmar Kutsar.- 14. Voluntary organizations and their role in the care for older people - Per H. Jensen.- 15. CONCLUDING DISCUSSION - Dagmar Kutsar and Marjo Kuronen.

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"The book relies on a European comparative research project which adopted both quantitative and qualitative approaches. ... There are various interesting and relevant findings in the book. ... The issues covered by this conscientious research are indeed of much interest, and their importance is easy to appreciate." (Matías Iglesias, Local Welfare Policy Making in European Cities, Vol. 12, 2017)

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