Dr. Mara Yerkes; Visiting Fellowship 2022/23
Mara A. Yerkes is Professor of Comparative Social Policy in relation to Social Inequalities at the Department of Interdisciplinary Social Science, Utrecht University, the Netherlands and Research Associate at the Center for Social Development in Africa at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. Her research broadly centres on comparative social policy (including national and local welfare state policy and industrial relations), social inequalities (related to work, care, communities and families, in particular relating to gender, generations, and sexual orientation) and their interplays.
Yerkes is the principal investigator of the European Research Council (ERC) project CAPABLE, a comparative study on gender inequalities in work-life balance in eight European countries, and of CoGIS-NL (COVID-19 Gender (In)equality Survey Netherlands), a longitudinal research project involving researchers from Utrecht University and Radboud University Nijmegen. She is the author of numerous articles and books, including Transforming the Dutch Welfare State: Social Risks and Corporatist Reform (2011; Policy Press) and two co-edited volumes appearing in 2022: Solidarity and Social Justice in Contemporary Societies: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Understanding Social Inequalities (from Palgrave), and Social Policy in Changing European Societies: Research Agendas for the 21st Century (Edward Elgar).
Visiting fellowship May 3-9, 2023
My motivation for coming for a short stay to the Institute of Contemporary History is the desire to learn more about the history of gender relations in Slovenia, situated with Slovenia’s economic and social development. I will use this knowledge to inform the progress of research being conducted within my European Research Council project CAPABLE, a study which maps and investigates the role of national and local policies across Europe and how these resources affect men and women’s real opportunities to balance their work with their private lives. Slovenia is one of the case studies in the project, and I look forward to hearing more about Slovenia’s political and social history to help with the contextualization of our research findings.
Selected publications:
K. Nelson, R. Nieuwenhuis, M.A. Yerkes. (Eds). 2022. Social Policy in Changing European Societies. Research Agendas for the 21st Century. Edward Elgar.
Yerkes, M.A. and M. Bal. (Eds). 2022. Solidarity and Social Justice in Contemporary Societies: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Understanding Social Inequalities. London: Palgrave MacMillan.
Yerkes, M.A., J. Javornik and A. Kurowska. (Eds). 2019. Social Policy and the Capability Approach: Concepts, Measurements and Application. Bristol: Policy Press.
Yerkes, M.A. 2011. Transforming the Dutch Welfare State: Social Risks and Corporatist Reform. Bristol: Policy Press.
Remery, C., R.J. Petts, J. Schippers, & M.A. Yerkes. 2022. “Gender and employment: Recalibrating women’s position in work, organizations, and society in times of COVID-19.” Gender, Work and Organization, 29(6), 1927–1934. link
Yerkes, M.A., S. Andre, C. Remery, M. Salin,M. Hakovirta, M. van Gerven, 2022, “Unequal but Balanced: Highly educated mothers’ perceptions of work-life balance during the COVID-19 lockdown in Finland and the Netherlands.” Journal of European Social Policy 32(4): 376-392. link
Yerkes, M.A., S. André, J. Besamusca, P. Kruyen, C. Remery, R. van der Zwan, D. Beckers, S. Geurts. 2020. “‘Intelligent’ lockdown, intelligent effects? Results from a survey on gender (in)equality in paid work, the division of childcare and household work, and quality of life among parents in the Netherlands during the Covid-19 lockdown.” PLOS ONE, link.
Yerkes, M.A., M. Hoogenboom and J. Javornik. 2020. “Where’s the Community in Community, Work and Family? A Community-based Capabilities Approach.” Community, Work and Family 23(5): 516-533.
