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It’s a Family Affair: The Evolution of Policies for Families in Europe

Americans are often awed by the "goodies" European countries offer their citizens: generous paid leaves, free childcare, and monthly payments to families with children. But in reality, there is great variation in these policies across countries, and they were designed to serve multiple social, economic, and political goals that were not often "feminist" in nature. In this lecture, we'll pull back the curtain on the evolution of family policies in European countries from World War II to the present and try to understand their many quirks and contradictions.

Faculty Member: Andreas Jozwiak, assistant professor of political science
Discussion Date: Tuesday, May 2 at 11 a.m.

Meet Professor Jozwiak

Andreas JozwiakAndreas Jozwiak began teaching at Grinnell College in 2022, having completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the European University Institute, a M.A. and Ph.D from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a B.A. from Trinity University. Trained in comparative political scientist, his research examines the politics of gender, class, and racial inequality in advanced democracies.

A major interest in Andreas’ research is the relationship between gender inequality and public policies relating to families, parenthood, and caregiving. In an article published in Social Politics, he examines how these family policies manifest themselves in terms of the publics’ attitudes towards and understandings of gender equality. Other work forthcoming in Social Policy & Administration shows that a set of reforms to German parental leave and childcare legislation resulted in greater class inequalities in how households are structured. Since these reforms, mothers with college degrees live in households where they earn roughly on par with their partner, while mothers without college degrees remain in households where men earn a vast majority of household income. An ongoing data project of his seeks to track the evolution of family policies in Europe and North America.

In other work with collaborators, he examines the political consequences of co-ethnic migration and is engaged in a new series of projects that seeks to understand the racial causes and consequences of American housing policy.

At Grinnell College, he teaches courses in Political Science and the Policy Studies curriculum. He is interested in experiential education, and works with the Careers, Life, and Service office to get students into the community. In addition, he supervises independent research as a capstone portion of the Policy Studies concentration.

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Tuesday May 2
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
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