The Welfare state, gendered labor markets and political orientations in France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Denmark and Britain, 1977-1994

ABSTRACT

This paper theoretically specifies and empirically examines a causal chain linking: 1) cumulative left governance to 2) welfare state institutions promoting female specific labor demand and supply, in turn to 3) female labor force participation,and finally to 4) various specifications of political support for leftparties. Using fuzzy set methods for the controlled comparison of cases, we findthat high cumulative left governance is causally necessary for high civilian
public sector expansion, and for high public daycare for children ages 0-2 andchildren ages 3 to school age. High civilian public sector expansion, high publicdaycare for children ages 0-2 and high public daycare for children ages 3 to school age are all individually causally sufficient for high female labor force participation. In turn, high female labor force participation is causally sufficient to produce high general left support, high female left support, high in -the-laborforce
female left support and gender gaps in (with high feminization of) centerleft support. High female labor force participation is causally necessary to produce a substantial female left support gap across labor force locations, with
in-the-labor-force women more likely to support the left than at-home women. Emphasizing the scholarly and pragmatic importance of distinguishing relations of causal sufficiency from relations of causal necessity, we discuss the theoretical implications of our findings, and the usefulness of our methodological innovations for policy making and research.