Parental leave policy

Zusammenfassung

In this chapter, we are subjecting parental leave policy to an analysis. According to our theoretical framework it is essential that the historical context of problem construing be given particularly careful attention, the tool for which is what Foucault calls genealogy. Problem representations change over time; the observation of this change makes it possible to question what seems to be self-evident and natural. Therefore, historical analysis of leave policies will have its starting point in the 19^thcentury; well before the actual period of inquiry and long before the terms incompatibility or reconciliation of paid employment and family care work made their first appearance.