The Politics of Ideals of Care: Danish and Flemish Child Care Policy Compared

Most European welfare states today have said farewell to the male breadwinner–female caretaker model. Still, child care policy has a different pace and shape in each country. This article studies the (late) origins as well as the diversity in Danish and Flemish (Belgian) child care policy. In Denmark, a universal child care provision was made possible because of the advocacy coalition of women with social pedagogues. They promoted the ideal of professional care. To combat the ideal of full-time motherhood, the Flemish Catholic women's movement strived for subsidizing childminders—the ideal of surrogate motherhood—supported by the Christian Democratic Party. Both strategies led to comparatively high levels of child care provisions, but also to very different contents and shapes. In short, one of the factors that shaped child care policy is the promotion of different (moral) ideals of care by the women's movement, together with other—often more powerful—allies, and backed up by parental preferences.