From a single breadwinner model to two breadwinners to double earner/carer – do we need a new model?

The Strategic Engagement for Gender Equality 2016–2019 commits the European Commission to action to ‘increase women’s participation in the labour market and combine work and family life’, under the priority area of ‘Increasing female labourmarket participation and the equal economic independence of women and men’ Three models of family arrangements are evident in policymaking: the single (male) breadwinner model, the dual-earner model and the dual-earner/dual-carer model. The dual-earner/dual-carer model valuably advances equal involvement in care responsibilities and supports women’s participation in the labour market. However, it assumes that both parents want to work, whatever their job, and to spend the same amount of time with their children; or that their work-life balance needs are unchanging over time. This is not always the case.