Introduction

In Southern Europe, the male breadwinner model constitutes the core of citizenship in terms of income provision, and this model is still being reproduced by the state. State intervention is mostly passive, and this changes only when family support fails, and not before (Mingione, 2001). Consequently, people rely heavily on family and social network support when they do not manage labour market inclusion. Therefore, family and social networks are the main decommodification elements. Of course, employment entitlements exist in the form of unemployment benefits, but they offer only temporary relief and are accessible after a period of labour market participation only. The passive role of the state is also one of the causes of a high incidence of irregular work, family business and self-employment activities, which are alternative ways to obtain an income.

The prevalence of the male breadwinner model and the importance of the family as a welfare provider have a clear effect on the situation of women. Nowadays young people stay at their parents’ home for a longer period than in the past (Andreotti et al, 2001). Public childcare facilities are very limited compared to Northern Europe, and taking care of elderly people is still the work of women in the private sphere of the family. These facts make it difficult for women to participate in the labour market since they invest so much of their time in family responsibilities, going some way to explain why women participate less in the formal labour market, either full-time or part-time. At the same time, this fact also explains why women take part-time jobs and irregular work in larger numbers than men (Mingione, 2001; see also Atkinson, 1986).

In Spain, it is this welfare-state regime context into which active labour market policies are introduced. Different kinds of active measures which are described in the Spanish National Action Plan (NAP) are introduced to reach the objectives of the four pillars on which the NAPs are based (see Chapter Five). The major part of active measures is located in the first pillar – employability – but there are various measures located in the other pillars as well. Some of the measures that are being introduced aim to bridge the gender gap (which is related to the problems described earlier), and there are also individualised active measures addressed to incorporating the most excluded people into the labour market.