Uppeldi og menntun - 01.07.2006, Page 29

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Uunk, W., kalmijn, M. og Muffels, R. (2005). The impact of young children on women´s
labour supply: a reassessment of institutional effects in Europe. Acta Sociologcia Jo­
urnal of the Nordic Sociological Association, 48(1), 41–62.
Warren, E. og Warren, T. a. (2004). The two income trap:Why middle class parents are going
broke. New york: Basic Books.
Guðný Björk Eydal er
dósent í félagsráðgjöf við
Félagsvísindadeild Háskóla Íslands .
abstract
This article ex­amines the development of Icelandic childcare policies between 1944
and 2004 in a comparative perspective. More specifically, it compares the content and
the scope of entitlements in Iceland to those in the other Nordic countries. Childcare
policies are defined as government policies on public support for families with young
children including both direct cash transfers (e.g. paid parental leave or family benefits)
and subsidies for services (such as preschools or other daycare arrangements). Public
support for childcare has changed considerably since the need regarding legislation
on daycare and maternity leave were first discussed in althingi (the parliament) in the
1940s. The first laws on daycare were passed in 1973 and since then daycare provisions
have improved considerably, both in quantity and quality. In 2004 the proportion of
Icelandic children in preschools was comparable to those in Denmark and Sweden,
which are among the highest in Europe.
Iceland used to lag behind the other Nordic countries in terms of entitlements to
parental leave. This changed following the passing of the new laws on parental leave
in the year 2000, in particular regarding the entitlements of fathers to paternity leave,
which are now the most ex­tensive in the world. However when we ex­amine the supp-
ort for families with young children holistically we find that Icelandic parents receive
less public support overall than do their counterparts in the neighbouring countries.
also, the duration of parental leave is greater in Sweden and Denmark, and Finland
and Norway offer special payments to parents of children under the age of three who
care for their children at home.
gUð­ný Björk ey­dal