The Role of Public Policies in Supporting Female Employment in Serbia

Abstract

This paper examines the role of public policies in supporting female employment in Serbia. In doing so, the authors confine their analysis to: The effects of flexible working–time arrangements and the national tax system on female employment; Gender neutrality, duration and generosity of child–care leave scheme, parental allowances and child benefits; As well as availability and affordability of early childhood education and care programmes. The main findings of the paper are such as follows: Underdevelopment of flexible working–time arrangements is an obstacle to female employment; Tax system indirectly discriminates female employment, due to their dominant employment in the public sector; The leave scheme is almost universally tied to mothers and it should be designed in a substantially different manner in order to be supportive of a more flexible division of both paid and unpaid work; Parental allowances and child benefits are secondary to female employment; The network of early childhood education and care programmes is underdeveloped and the coverage of pre–school children is inadequate. The authors conclude that the role of the considered national public policies is not supportive of female employment and that it does not contribute to more balanced division of paid and unpaid work in Serbia.