Rationales of care in contemporary welfare states: The case of childcare in the Netherlands

The article is concerned with childcare policies in the Netherlands since the 1960s. It seeks to contribute to theories of gender and policy formation in welfare states through its focus on political discourses and ideological assumptions embedded in societal notions of care. In analyzing the Dutch case, I distinguish three rationales, respectively a moral, an interest, and an efficiency rationale, which reflect various basic arguments on gender, care, and welfare. The article argues that the rationale of efficiency has been particularly important for an expansion of childcare provisions since the late 1980s. Although this rationale has provided sound arguments for the expansion of childcare, it has been criticized by some feminists because of the hidden assumptions in it about care. The conclusions about the Dutch case have broader implications. In the context of welfare state reform, hegemonic political discourses on childcare are shifting and may have significant consequences for the relation between gender, care, and the welfare state.