The Continuing Legacy of the Communist Legacy? the Development of Family Policies in Poland and the Czech Republic

Abstract

This article compares family policies in Poland and the Czech Republic in order to explain why the two countries have different policies. Previous studies are right to claim that post-communist family policies are basically going in a refamilialist direction that gives mothers a greater incentive to return to the home, but they tend to neglect the important differences that exist between countries. Although previous studies were correct to emphasize the role of the anti-feminist communist legacy in explaining this trend toward re-famialilization, it is a country's economic-institutional legacy that goes the farthest in explaining the differences in policies.