Concept and background
Esping-Andersen's three worlds of welfare capitalism focused on workers' freedom from the market but neglected women's unpaid care. Orloff (1993) argued for gender dimensions such as access to paid work and the capacity to form autonomous households. Lewis (1992) compared how far welfare systems assume a male breadwinner family through the family wage, husband-based social insurance and scarce childcare.
Country types
Lewis (1992) classed Britain and Ireland as strong breadwinner states, France as modified and Sweden as weak, a dual-earner model. Sainsbury (1996) contrasted breadwinner and individual models by whether entitlement rests on marital status or on citizenship and individual work. Strong models leave women vulnerable on divorce or widowhood, linking to the feminisation of poverty.
Decline and alternatives
Rising female employment and family change weakened the model (Crompton, 1999; Lewis, 2001). Many countries moved toward an 'adult worker model', but Daly (2011) warned that stressing employment without care support increases women's double burden. Fraser (1994) proposed a 'universal caregiver' model in which men share care like women. These debates connect to defamilialisation and new social risks.
FAQ
- What is the male breadwinner model in simple terms?
- A welfare state whose pensions, taxes and childcare assume that husbands earn and wives care at home.
- What is the adult worker model?
- A model assuming all adults, men and women, support themselves through work; it has spread as the breadwinner model declined.
Sources reviewed: 2026-10-26
References
- Lewis, J. (1992). Gender and the development of welfare regimes. Journal of European Social Policy, 2(3), 159–173. Classifies welfare states by the strength of the male breadwinner model.
- Lewis, J. (2001). The decline of the male breadwinner model: Implications for work and care. Social Politics, 8(2), 152–169. Work and care after the model's decline.
- Orloff, A. S. (1993). Gender and the social rights of citizenship: The comparative analysis of gender relations and welfare states. American Sociological Review, 58(3), 303–328. Adds gender dimensions to welfare-state comparison.
- Sainsbury, D. (1996). Gender, equality, and welfare states. Cambridge University Press. Contrasts the breadwinner and individual models.
- Fraser, N. (1994). After the family wage: Gender equity and the welfare state. Political Theory, 22(4), 591–618. Proposes the universal caregiver model after the family wage.
- Crompton, R. (Ed.). (1999). Restructuring gender relations and employment: The decline of the male breadwinner. Oxford University Press. Comparative studies of the breadwinner model's decline.
- Daly, M. (2011). What adult worker model? A critical look at recent social policy reform in Europe from a gender and family perspective. Social Politics, 18(1), 1–23. A critical look at the shift to an adult worker model.