Thomas P. Boje is Professor of Sociology in the Department of Sociology at the University of Umeå, Sweden. He is currently editor-in-chief for the ESA journal European Societies., Arnlaug Leira is a Professor of Sociology in the Department of Sociology and Human Geography at the University of Oslo, Norway.

• Introduction: Gender, welfare state and the market: towards a new division of labour? Thomas P. Boje and Arnlaug Leira Section 1: Women's Employment and Welfare Systems 1. Paid work, unpaid work and welfare: towards a framework for studying welfare state variation Mary Daly 2. Citizenship, family policy and women's pattern of employment Thomas P. Boje and Anna-Lena Almqvist 3. Variation within post-fordist and liberal welfare state countries, women's work and social rights in Canada and the United States Cecilia Benoit 4. Family policy and mothers' employment: cross-national varitions Janet Gornick Section II. Family Policy - Work and Care in Different Welfare Systems 5. Gendered Policies: family obligations and social policies in Europe Chiara Saraceno 6. Combining work and family: Nordic policy reforms in the 1990s Arnlaug Leira 7. Child care policies in Japan: post-war developments and recent reforms Ito Peng 8. Changing obligations and expectations: lone parenthood and social policy Jane Millar 9. Solo mothers - how do they work and care in different welfare state regimes? Jørgen Elm Larsen 10. Labour, gender, and the state Evelyn Mahon