The childcare gap in Europe: probing policy constructions of work-life balance and parental agency

This piece problematizes complexity in work-life balance policies in 15 European countries and examines their underpinning models of parental agency. It compares parenting-related leaves and early childhood education and care policies in terms of the support they offer to parents and the resultant gaps in coverage (the childcare gap). The article develops a conceptual framework that differentiates between three constructions of parental agency: relatively autonomous, moderately constrained and heavily constrained. Applying this line of analysis, three main country groupings emerge. Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Slovenia and Sweden are most supportive of parents' autonomous agency with well-paid leaves that overlap with entitlement to childcare that give parents choice around the care of their young children. Parents in all the other countries face trade-offs around money, time or services, but to a differential degree. Germany and Latvia moderately constrain parental agency with a relatively short childcare gap. All the other countries - Belgium, Czechia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Spain and the UK - place relatively heavy constraints on parental agency, with rather long childcare gaps and/or long unpaid or low-paid leaves, thereby forcing parents to trade off time with low or no compensation if they wish to care for their young children themselves.