Counseling patients through their journey to conceive can be challenging. When a therapist becomes pregnant, the therapeutic alliance alters.This chapter explores the unique dynamics between the pregnant fertility counselor and reproductive clients. Questions around the “who, what, where, when, why and how” of pregnancy disclosure are used as a tool to help think about the various elements to the therapeutic alliance. Intense feelings can be triggered for a patient who is struggling with infertility or pregnancy loss, but can also trigger emotional reactions for the fertility counselor. The transference and countertransference that arises with the self-disclosure of a pregnancy is likely to unfold complicated dynamics and emotions. The positive and negative implications that a pregnancy disclosure can have from the patient’s point of view, as well as that of the therapist, are addressed. Additionally, the postpartum experience and the return back to work after parental leave are also discussed. While this chapter focuses on the pregnant therapist, the issues raised pertain to all pregnant reproductive medical staff treating infertility patients.

Chapter 6 compares evidence from qualitative case studies of similar countries that did and did not adopt a quota law, shedding light on the mechanisms linking quotas to policy change and the conditions under which they hold. One of the unique features of quota laws compared to increases in the number of women in parliaments without quotas is that quotas tend to increase the share of women on the right in particular. Quotas thus lead to more women from across the political spectrum entering parliament and, over time, taking on leadership roles. I find that the mechanism of factions (women’s increased leverage within parties and parliament) played an important role in both Belgium and Portugal, as women pushed for greater gender equality in government and formed the majority of a new working group on parenting and gender equality. However, the importance of women as ministers depends on the institutional context: even when quotas increase women in parliaments, they might not increase women in governments. In the counterfactual (non-quota) cases of Austria and Italy, women were often key protagonists in policy reform, but there are fewer of them, especially on the right and far right. This can result in policy stasis or backsliding.

Do gender quotas lead political parties to become more inclusive of women’s preferences? Chapter 4 explores the relationship between quotas and party priorities using manifesto data and qualitative case studies. I focus on the link between quotas and party priorities on three areas : equality, welfare state expansion, and work-family policies. Using matching and regression methods with a panel dataset of parties in OECD democracies, I find that parties in countries that implement a quota law devote more attention to equality than similar parties in countries without a quota. In line with expectations, no change is found to party priorities on welfare state expansion. Using a new dataset of party attention to various work-family policies in four country cases (Belgium, Austria, Portugal, and Italy), I find that quotas are linked to an increase in attention to policies that promote maternal employment (child care, equality-promoting leave) and a reduction in attention to policies that do not (cash transfers that encourage women to stay at home). My qualitative analysis suggests that in countries that have implemented a quota law, parties across the political spectrum jointly promote parental leave and encourage fathers to participate. This is not the case in countries without a quota.

Chapter 5 tackles the question of whether quotas lead to real policy changes. I examine data on public spending on family policies and the composition of leave policies. Work--family policies have evolved rapidly, and I look for evidence that quotas are linked to policies that support mothers working outside the home -- specifically, paid leave that can be shared by parents and paternity-only leave, as opposed to maternity-only leave and family allowances (both of which reinforce gender stereotypes of care). I find that quotas shift the configuration of leave policies towards gender equality -- more paid parental and father-specific leave, and less maternity-only leave. The size of these effects is influenced by how effectively the quota increased the number of women in office (the “quota shock”): the larger the quota shock, the greater the policy shifts observed. I find no evidence of change to spending in areas in which men and women tend to have similar policy preferences, or where issues fall within the bounds of the mainstream, left--right policy dimension (like overall social spending). A key finding from Chapter 5 is that quota laws affect policies: they shift the spending and composition of work--family policies to better support women’s preferences on maternal employment.

This chapter focuses on credit as a bounded social investment in light of financial shortfalls that arise during the life course. The Danish welfare state provides strong financial support, particularly for low-income households, through comprehensive family and educational policies such as childcare services and other in-kind benefits that limit families’ financial exposures and lower households’ opportunity costs for taking time off work, sending children to childcare, and pursuing education and training programs. Middle- and high-income households are the ones that draw on credit to smooth income losses when a spouse temporarily leaves work, for example to care for children or to get training. This "investment borrowing" is more prevalent than "consumption borrowing" to cope with labor market-related risks. By contrast, many more American households, including low- and middle-income ones, borrow money to cope with the financial consequence that arise throughout the life course, including income losses due to parental leave or expenses for childcare, education, and training–which would be covered or subsidized by most European welfare states. As life course trajectories have become more fluid and flexible and the traditional single-breadwinner model has declined, Germany’s restrictive credit regime continues to make it hard for households to borrow money.

This chapter explores the global reach of “gatekeeper theory.” It studies how the institutional structure of electoral quotas and economic reforms for greater gender equality interact, comparing parental leave in the former Soviet Union and Sweden, and land tenure reforms in Tanzania and Rwanda. Where women’s quotas are effective, reforms are enforced (everywhere but Tanzania). However, the welfare impact of such enforcement depends on whether reform enables integrative bargaining. If so, we see empowerment; otherwise, backlash follows. The chapter next explains how the book’s findings build theory in three domains: how quotas change the relationship between citizens and families, communities, and the state, through the prism of bargaining power; which mechanisms push the impact of reform toward increasing either social equality or resistance; and the necessity of studying how evolving social norms, political institutions, and economic rights can converge to achieve greater equality. It concludes that local political institutions can productively engage with social norms to bring about progressive, egalitarian change. To do so, reform must exploit critical junctures, where multiple paths are possible. By identifying and paying close attention to these pivotal intersections, we foster mutually beneficial agreements within families in the service of incremental social progress.