Introduction

Within Europe, there is a contradiction between the progressive image of the Netherlands and its local practice. The country has been portrayed as an overly generous wealthy welfare state with progressive forms of citizenship, evidenced by legislative acts concerning a number of areas such as euthanasia, gay marriages and drug use. Politically, the relatively active civil society, the long history of party coalitions and the tradition of a so-called tripartite ruling have formed an image of tolerance and mutual respect. A close examination of these progressive legislations reveals a nuanced interpretation of the notion of ‘citizenship’ with practical consequences on gender and race relations. Whereas legislation concerning gay marriage and euthanasia bases itself on the notion of rights and duties between the individual citizen and the state, in the domain of care, the notion of rights and duties are displaced from this relationship and cited in ‘citizen-to-citizen’ relations.

Although north European welfare states have been undergoing similar demographic and economic changes that led to reforms and care policies have acquired features of ‘citizen-to-citizen’ relations, the Dutch experience shows that issues of care have less political visibility and the nuclear family is particularly emphasized. For instance, in Scandinavian countries, public debates on private and unpaid caretaking activities have led to gender neutral forms of public and private care provision.