RESUMEN
Researchers have studied the impact of different welfare state regimes, and particularly family policy regimes, on gender equality. Very little research has been conducted, however, on the association between different family policy regimes and children's well-being. This article explores how the different family policy regimes of twenty OECD countries relate to children's well-being in the areas of child poverty, child mortality, and educational attainment and achievement. We focus specifically on three family policies: family cash and tax benefits, paid parenting leaves, and public child care support. Using panel data for the years 1995, 2000, and 2005, we test the association between these policies and child well-being while holding constant for a number of structural and policy variables. Our analysis shows that the dual-earner regimes, combining high levels of support for paid parenting leaves and public child care, are strongly associated with low levels of child poverty and child mortality. We find little long-term effect of family policies on educational achievement, but a significant positive correlation between high family policy support and higher educational attainment. We conclude that family policies have a significant impact on improving children's well-being, and that dual-earner regimes represent the best practice for promoting children's health and development.
Asunto(s)
Protección a la Infancia , Familia , Asistencia Pública , Política Pública , Clase Social , Factores Socioeconómicos , Niño , Mortalidad del Niño/etnología , Mortalidad del Niño/historia , Protección a la Infancia/economía , Protección a la Infancia/etnología , Protección a la Infancia/historia , Protección a la Infancia/legislación & jurisprudencia , Protección a la Infancia/psicología , Preescolar , Educación/economía , Educación/historia , Educación/legislación & jurisprudencia , Europa (Continente)/etnología , Familia/etnología , Familia/historia , Familia/psicología , Gobierno/historia , Historia del Siglo XX , Historia del Siglo XXI , Humanos , Lactante , Mortalidad Infantil/etnología , Mortalidad Infantil/historia , Bienestar del Lactante/economía , Bienestar del Lactante/etnología , Bienestar del Lactante/historia , Bienestar del Lactante/legislación & jurisprudencia , Bienestar del Lactante/psicología , Medio Oriente/etnología , América del Norte/etnología , Pobreza/economía , Pobreza/etnología , Pobreza/historia , Pobreza/legislación & jurisprudencia , Pobreza/psicología , Asistencia Pública/economía , Asistencia Pública/historia , Asistencia Pública/legislación & jurisprudencia , Política Pública/economía , Política Pública/historia , Política Pública/legislación & jurisprudencia , Clase Social/historia , Factores Socioeconómicos/historia , América del Sur/etnologíaRESUMEN
In the last decade, nurse-midwifery in Brazil has experienced many changes both professionally and politically. In the 1990s, Brazil's Ministry of Health generated policies to improve childbirth services. Included in these policy initiatives was legislation for the reimbursement of nurse-midwifery services and a substantial increase in financing of nurse-midwifery schools throughout the country. It was during this period that the Brazilian National Nurse-Midwifery Organization was formed to provide professional leadership and an alternative model of childbirth care. The future is hopeful, but the nurse-midwifery profession will need collective determination to succeed in changing practices and improving services to women and families.