Childcare policies in France: the influence of organizational changes in the workplace

Since the nineties, significant organizational changes entering the workplace have marched hand in hand with a trend toward the development of atypical, irregular and/or unforeseeable working time schedules. Against this background, I investigate how decision makers involved in family policies tackle the issue of children’ s well-being when both parents are in paid work. By focusing specifically on preschool children (aged under 6 years) I demonstrate that the real driver for current childcare policies, while couched in terms of the ‘best interest’ of the child, is in fact the combined forces of labour market pressure and demands for a mother’s right to paid work.