Kamppailuja merkityksistä, kustannuksista ja vaikutusvallasta – Juha Sipilän hallituksen perhevapaauudistuksen kaatuminen kolmikantaisen tasa-arvopolitiikan näkökulmasta
Keywords:
decision-making, gender equality policy, corporatism, parental leaveAbstract
The reform of the family leave system has been on the Finnish political agenda for a long time. The reform has, however, proven to be a challenging task. The challenges are related to ideological differences between the political parties and non-decision making that takes place in tripartite working groups, where the labour market parties participate in policy formulation. In studies on gender equality policy, it is important to analyze the conditions under which policies are adopted, as well as the various stages of the policy process. Failed policy processes reveal a lot about the dynamics and power relations between central actors. In this article, we analyze the failed attempt to reform the Finnish family leave system that took place during Prime Minister Juha Sipilä’s government’s term (2015-2019), from the perspective of the adoption of gender equality policy. We analyze the initiative as an example of governmental gender equality policy that failed as the result of diverging political and ideological views. We also analyze the case as an example of changing corporatist decision-making. The article produced new information on the changing processes of decision-making in gender equality policy, and related challenges. The article is based on extensive document data (N=196) and interviews of the participants of the policy process (N=14). With this data, using qualitative methods, we can offer an in-depth analysis on the reason behind the failure of the policy initiative.
