The Spanish child care policies (1975-1996)

Abstract

A distinguishing feature characterizes the main Spanish central-state child care policies (for children under six, when mandatory education starts). Most policies are educational pre-school programs for children aged three or over. The scope of these programs is quite high in comparative terms. In contrast, the percentage of Spanish children aged two or under cared for in public centers is one of the lowest in the European Union. The characteristics of Spanish child care policy can be understood by examining the political agenda, and the role played by the main social and political actors of the agenda setting stage. Those who might have emerged as determined advocates of more public child care programs after 1975, namely, the feminist movement, state feminists, and the women’s departments of trade unions, have in practice not consistently advanced such demands. This paper examines why women’s advocates either did not mobilize around child care issues, or were unable to introduce their demands into the government’s agenda. The relevant explanatory factors include: the influence of the authoritarian political past; the characteristics of the labor market and the welfare state; and societal views on child rearing. Policy-makers have extended the programs which already existed before 1975, that is, educational services. They have been defined by policy-makers as measures that chiefly benefit children. Therefore, the policies are targeted at children aged three or over, because in Spain most policy-makers think that children should be enrolled in educational programs around the age of three.