The connection between the welfare state and gender relations has been on the agenda of feminist research since the 1970s. While in the beginning research concentrated on the impact of welfare state regulations on the social position of women in society, recent international comparative research results reveal a picture of the mutual impact of gender relations and welfare state development. Inspired by a critical discussion with mainstream welfare state theories, gendered welfare state research questioned and analysed, in particular, the prominent position of social class. Instead, feminist researchers emphasised the interrelationship between welfare state regulations and the emerging gender relations, as well as the importance of the gender question as a driving force in the process of definition and redefinition
of welfare state regulations. Only recently have efforts been made to combine issues of welfare state policies and politics and gender and social inequality in a common analytical framework.