ABSTRACT
The crisis of the welfare state is rooted in the collapse of the world of the family wage, and of its central assumptions about labor markets and families. A welfare state could satisfy all gender equity normative principles and still function to marginalize women. The anti-marginalization principle requires provision of the necessary conditions for women's participation, including day care, elder care, and provision for breast-feeding in public. The Universal Breadwinner model is the vision implicit in the current political practice of most US feminists and liberals. The centerpiece of this model is state provision of employment-enabling services. The Caregiver Parity model is the vision implicit in the current political practice of most Western European feminists and social democrats. It promotes gender equity chiefly by supporting informal carework. The centerpiece of this model is state provision of caregiver allowances. Some informal carework would be publicly supported and integrated on a par with paid work in a single social-insurance system.
