Should mothers of young children work outside the home at all? Comparing the various policy choices made across France, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the US, this book shows that there are differences in the extent to which societies accept both the idea of working mothers and the role of the state in shaping both gender roles and children's lives.

Historic patterns of church-state relations and conflicts over religion affected ideologies about gender roles and the family, as well as the way religious forces would be incorporated into political life. These forces shaped welfare policy between 1945 and 1975, a critical time for social policy expansion. During this period, socially conservative forces in countries such as the Netherlands and the United States blocked policies that would encourage mothers to work, while the weakness of these forces enabled such policies in both Sweden and France. Morgan concludes that these policy decisions have had an enduring impact, in part because the expansion of the welfare state has been curtailed since the 1970s.