The Future Regulation of Work and Welfare: Time for a Revised Social and Gender Contract?

In this article we provide a critical review of comparative political economy approaches to the regulation of work and welfare in Europe. We use the holistic concept of gendered employment systems to identify how the regulation of work and welfare is managed in different ways according to the capacity and constraints of national and European actors. A re-evaluation of regulations governing the established social contract between capital and labour requires reconsideration of the nature of the gender contract between men and women. We illustrate this argument with examples of three different types of regulatory reform strategies adopted in different European societies.