26
more rarely adopted in families constrained by poverty, the need for geo-
graphical mobility, and poor housing.
The Carnation Revolution of April 25, 1974, is a milestone in
Portuguese contemporary history, with major impacts on family life and
welfare. In contrast to the former model of unsupported familialism
(Leitner 2003 ), the last three decades have seen rapid change.
Developments in family policies following the revolution mostly encour-
aged the modernisation of family life, a movement also driven by mem-
bership of the EU and other international forums. These efforts led to the
recognition of family diversity, to new obligations on the part of the State
to support families, and to the development of stronger linkages between
family and gender equality policies. In a context where the full-time dual-
earner model has been prevalent for a long time, promotion of work-
family balance for both mothers and fathers has been high on the policy
agenda.^1 As a result, past and present pathways have blended in a specific
way and made for some differences as well as commonalities with other
Southern European countries (Wall and Escobedo 2009 ).
Like other countries in Southern Europe, Portugal has been described
as a country in which there is a strong ideological commitment to the
family. Intergenerational obligations remain strong, even if highly
unequal across the social spectrum (Wall et al. 2001 ). Currently, these
obligations are rooted in values that foster residential autonomy for both
individuals and couples and acceptance of temporary co-residence, to
care for dependent elderly persons, but only in case of extreme need,
making for a sharp decline in extended family households, from 15% in
1960 to 8% of households in 2011.
However, in contrast to other Southern European countries, Portugal
has moved rapidly towards a dual-earner family model and a Welfare
State which, albeit working within a highly constrained budget, has fos-
tered support for dual earning through the building up of leaves and
publicly subsidised institutions (Guerreiro et al. 2009 ; Wall 2011 ).
Rather than defamilialisation, this has made for a mixed welfare model in
which the state, the market, and families are considered complementary.
At the level of family transitions and practices, these developments
have led to growing pluralisation and individualisation, in particular
since the 1990s (Aboim 2006 ; Wall 2005 ). Divorce levels are in the early
V. Ramos et al.