Family Policies in Eastern Europe
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ORIGINAL PAPER Family Policies in Eastern Europe: A Focus on Parental Leave Mihaela Robila Published online: 23 September 2010 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010 Abstract Family policy is an issue of concern for many Governments. Family policies are organized around the four main functions of the family: marriage, childrearing, ±nancial support and family care. Eastern Europe is an area with signi±cant socio-economic and political changes in the last decades that determined revisions of social poli- cies. The goal of this article is to review the most relevant family policies in this region. Using feminist and family systems theoretical perspectives the paper also provides an in-depth examination of childcare policies with a focus on parental leave. Maternity, paternity and parental leave and child care services in the region are explored. Recom- mendations for family policy development, implementation and evaluation in Eastern Europe are provided. Keywords Family policy Á Eastern Europe Á Families Á Children Á Parental leave Introduction An explicit family policy addresses the problems that families experience in society and has as its goal the advancement of family well-being (Bogenschneider 2006 ). It is constituted of a series of separate but interrelated policy choices that address issues such as family care, poverty, domestic violence, and family planning. As such, family policy assumes a diversity and multiplicity of policies rather than a single monolithic, comprehensive legislative act. A system of explicit and institutionalized family policy implies legal recognition of the family as a social institution playing a major part in the maintenance of social cohesion (Zimmerman 2001 ). Family policy can be de±ned as government activities that are designed to sup- port families and their well-being. Family policy focuses on the family as a social entity, not as individual members, deliberately targeting the concerns of the family group in terms of educational, economic and social aspects. The post-communist transition in Eastern Europe has been associated with massive sociopolitical and economic changes, which in turn have shaped the social policies impacting families. The fall of the totalitarian political systems in the area provided autonomy and determined a widening variation in the economic and social reforms in the region (Robila 2004 ). As such, currently there are signi±cant differences among the economic development of the different countries, with the Gross Domestic Product per capita varying between $2,300 in Moldova, $6,300 in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and $6,400 in Ukraine to $27,000 in Slovenia, $25,100 in Czech Republic and $21,000 in Slo- vakia (U.S. GDP per capita: $45,800) (See Table 1 ; CIA 2010 ). The unemployment grew signi±cantly in the region while the market economies emerged. Some of the highest unemployment rates have been experienced by Bosnia/ Herzegovina (40%), Macedonia (32.3%) and Latvia (17.1%) (CIA 2010 ). These economic and social changes had complex implications at the family level, such as, the reduction of fertility rate or increase in international migration across the area (Robila 2009b , 2010 ). Total fertility rate (children born/woman) is low at about 1.24 in Lithuania, 1.25 in Belarus and Czech Republic, or 1.26 in Bosnia/Herzegovina and just a little higher at 1.58 in Macedonia and 1.43 in Croatia and Estonia (See Table 1 ; CIA 2010 ). International migration is signi±cant, with for M. Robila ( & ) Family Studies, Queens College, City University of New York, 306 Remsen Hall, 65-30 Kissena Blvd, Flushing, NY 11367, USA e-mail: Mihaela.Robila@qc.cuny.edu 123 J Child Fam Stud (2012) 21:32–41 DOI 10.1007/s10826-010-9421-4
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