The emergence of parental and paternity leaves in Switzerland : a challenge to gendered representations and practices of parenthood?

The thesis addresses the issue of parenthood and gender equality in Switzerland through the emergence of parental leave policies. This is an original and relevant research topic, as Switzerland is one of the few industrialized countries that have not yet implemented a parental or paternity leave. I first describe the emergence of parental leave policies in the last ten to fifteen years in the political, media, and labor-market spheres. Secondly, adopting a gender and discursive theoretical approach, I analyze whether and to what extent this emergence challenged gendered representations and practices of parenthood. The multilevel and mixed-methods research design implies analyzing various data sets such as parliamentary interventions (N=23J and newspaper articles (N=579) on parental leave policies. A case study of a public administration which implemented a one-month paid paternity leave draws on register data of leave recipients (N=95) and in-depth interviews with fathers and managers (n=30). Results show that parental leave policies, especially in recent years, have been increasingly problematized in the three social spheres considered, as a result of political and institutional events. While there is a struggle over the definition of the legitimate leave type to implement [parental or paternity leave) in the political sphere, paternity leave has precedence in the media and labor-market spheres. Overall, this emergence contributes to making fatherhood visible in the public sphere, challenging albeit in a limited way gendered representations and practices of parenthood. Along with representations of involved fatherhood and change in gender relations, different roles and responsibilities are attributed to mothers and fathers, the latter being often defined as secondary, temporary and optional parents. Finally, I identify a common trend, namely the increasing importance of the economic aspects of parental leave policies with the consequence of sidelining their gender-equality potential. The dissertation contributes to the literature which analyzes the interconnections between the macro-, the meso- and the micro-levels of society in the constitution of gender relations and parenthood. It also provides useful tools for the analysis of the politics of parental leave policies in Switzerland and their effects for gender equality. - Cette thèse traite de la parentalité et de l'égalité de genre en Suisse à travers l'émergence des congés parentaux. Ce sujet de recherche est original et pertinent puisque la Suisse est à ce jour un des seuls pays industrialisés à ne pas avoir adopté de droit au congé parental ou paternité. Cette recherche décrit l'émergence des congés parentaux au cours des 10 à 15 dernières années dans les sphères politique, médiatique et du marché de l'emploi en Suisse. En combinant perspective de genre et analyse de discours, elle examine dans quelle mesure cette émergence remet en question les représentations et pratiques genrées de parentalité. Des méthodes de recherche mixtes sont employées pour analyser des interventions parlementaires (N=23) et des articles de presse (N=579) sur les congés parentaux. L'étude de cas d une entreprise publique qui a adopté un congé paternité payé d'un mois s'appuie sur des données de registre (N=95) et des entretiens semi-structurés avec des pères et des cadres (n=30). Les résultats indiquent que dans les trois sphères considérées, les congés parentaux ont reçu une attention croissante au cours de ces dernières années, en lien avec des événements politiques et institutionnels. Alors que dans la sphère politique il n'y a pas de consensus quant au type de congé considéré comme légitime (congé parental ou paternité), dans les sphères médiatique et du marché de l'emploi le congé paternité semble l'emporter. Dans l'ensemble, l'émergence des congés parentaux contribue à rendre la paternité plus visible dans l'espace public, remettant en question-bien que d'une manière limitée-les représentations genrées de la parentalité. En effet, d'une part l'image de pères impliqués et de rapports de genre plus égalitaires au sein de la famille est diffusée. D'autre part, mères et pères continuent à être associés à des rôles différents, les pères étant définis comme des parents secondaires et temporaires. Finalement, l'analyse révèle une tendance générale, soit l'importance croissante accordée aux aspects économiques des congés parentaux, avec pour conséquence la mise à l'écart de leur potentiel pour l'égalité de genre. Cette thèse contribue à la recherche sur les liens entre les niveaux macro- meso- et microsociaux dans la constitution des rapports de genre et de la parentalité. Elle propose également des outils pour analyser les politiques de congés parentaux en Suisse et leurs implications pour l'égalité de genre.

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In this chapter, we examine the multiple dimensions of declarations of fertility in-tention in order to provide a critical reading of currently used indicators of the childbearing decision-making process. Using a qualitative approach, we pay atten-tion to the complexity of the process through which individuals make (or fail to make) plans regarding their reproductive future. The data are a series of compara-ble in-depth interviews conducted in a number of European countries with varying fertility levels, and differing normative and institutional contexts. First, we ana-lyze the meanings that respondents attribute to their childbearing intentions, pay-ing particular attention to uncertain intentions that are often underanalyzed. Se-cond, we study the ways in which individuals vary in holding to their intentions over time, and consider why they might change their minds, even over relatively short periods of time. Third, we examine how several aspects of the larger social context (attitudes towards having children, family policy, norms related to the di-vision of labor, norms about the timing of children) shape fertility intentions.

Vulnerability as a heuristic for interdisciplinary research: Assessing the thematic and methodological structure of empirical life-course studies

Changes in human lives are studied in psychology, sociology, and adjacent fields as outcomes of developmental processes, institutional regulations and policies, culturally and normatively structured life courses, or empirical accounts. However, such studies have used a wide range of complementary, but often divergent, concepts. This review has two aims. First, we report on the structure that has emerged from scientific life course research by focusing on abstracts from longitudinal and life course studies beginning with the year 2000. Second, we provide a sense of the disciplinary diversity of the field and assess the value of the concept of 'vulnerability' as a heuristic tool for studying human lives. Applying correspondence analysis to 10,632 scientific abstracts, we find a disciplinary divide between psychology and sociology, and observe indications of both similarities of-and differences between-studies, driven at least partly by the data and methods employed. We also find that vulnerability takes a central position in this scientific field, which leads us to suggest several reasons to see value in pursuing theory development for longitudinal and life course studies in this direction.

Multidimensional Deprivation in Contemporary Switzerland Across Social Groups and Time

We have investigated the phenomenon of deprivation in contemporary Switzerland through the adoption of a multidimensional, dynamic approach. By applying Self Organizing Maps (SOM) to a set of 33 non-monetary indicators from the 2009 wave of the Swiss Household Panel (SHP), we identified 13 prototypical forms (or clusters) of well-being, financial vulnerability, psycho-physiological fragility and deprivation within a topological dimensional space. Then new data from the previous waves (2003 to 2008) were classified by the SOM model, making it possible to estimate the weight of the different clusters in time and reconstruct the dynamics of stability and mobility of individuals within the map. Looking at the transition probabilities between year t and year t+1, we observed that the paths of mobility which catalyze the largest number of observations are those connecting clusters that are adjacent on the topological space.

Tie Strength and Family Formation : which Personal Relationships are Influential ?

Based on the analysis of qualitative interviews in western Germany, we argue that personal relationships have a strong impact on individuals' family formation processes and fertility intentions. We identify persons who influence individuals' fertility choices. Strong ties, such as those among core family members (i.e., parents and siblings), are an important contributing factor, but we are also able to show that weak ties, such as those among colleagues, and acquaintances need to be considered when examining social influence on family formation processes. Apart from single network partners, we have identified influential groups of persons. Such groups serve as a comparative standard regarding the timing of having one's first child and subsequent children.

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Starting from the mid-1960s, family and fertility patterns in Europe underwent fundamental changes. Social scientists have increasingly turned to intergenerational models to explain such changes. This paper deals with one important intergenerational dimension of fertility, namely the transmission of normative beliefs about childbearing choices. Normative beliefs are important determinants of fertility behavior. While norms are learnt and internalized throughout the life course, primary socialization of children within the family and role modeling are important mechanism to ensure norm transmission. Interaction with family members in adult life may reinforce the effects of early socialization and role modeling. The paper focuses on the ways in which mothers and daughters make sense of normative beliefs about childbearing. I draw on set of semi-structured interviews with childless women in reproductive ages and their mothers, collected in Italy between 2004 and 2006. First, I provide a micro-level descriptive analysis of normative beliefs about childbearing norms in mother-daughter dyads. Second, linking these descriptive analyses to the biography of specific dyads, I identify patterns of continuity and discontinuity in the social meaning of children and their fertility outcomes.

Aldosterone effects on glomerular structure and function.

OBJECTIVE: Experimental evidence suggests that aldosterone directly contributes to organ damage by promoting cell growth, fibrosis, and inflammation. Based on these premises, this work aimed to assess the glomerular effects of aldosterone, alone and in combination with salt. METHODS: After undergoing uninephrectomy, 75 rats were allocated to five groups: control, salt diet, aldosterone, aldosterone + salt diet, aldosterone + salt diet and eplerenone, and they were all studied for four weeks. We focused on glomerular structural, functional, and molecular changes, including slit diaphragm components, local renin-angiotensin system activation, as well as pro-oxidative and profibrotic changes. RESULTS: Aldosterone significantly increased systolic blood pressure, led to glomerular hypertrophy, mesangial expansion, and it significantly increased the glomerular permeability to albumin and the albumin excretion rate, indicating the presence of glomerular damage. These effects were worsened by adding salt to aldosterone, while they were reduced by eplerenone. Aldosterone-induced glomerular damage was associated with glomerular angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) 2 downregulation, with ACE/ACE2 ratio increase, ANP decrease, as well as with glomerular pro-oxidative and profibrotic changes. CONCLUSIONS: Aldosterone damages not only the structure but also the function of the glomerulus. ACE/ACE2 upregulation, ACE2 and ANP downregulation, and pro-oxidative and profibrotic changes are possible mechanisms accounting for aldosterone-induced glomerular injury.