The aim of this project is to analyse how local welfare provision affects the labour market participation of women, and how female employment in turn affects the life-course (of women and men), structures of inequality, social cohesion and hence the sustainability of the European social model.Two types of welfare provision have been singled out to be of major importance for female employment: care (both for children and elderly care) and human capital investments (vocational training and life-long learning). The coverage and quality of services, the welfare mix (public, private and in between), partnerships, and governance structures most favourable for the employment of women and social cohesion will be identified based on a comparison of eleven cities in eleven European countries.The project will analyse the political autonomy of local political actors vis-à-vis national and EU policy making, including culture as an important explanatory variable. Culture is included in two dimensions: First, women’s disposition to participate on the labour market is seen as culturally embedded, while cultural ideals and values play an important role in how policies are perceived and rendered practically useful by women (thus definitions of ‘the good mother’ vary socially and geographically, whereby some mothers, for instance, would prefer not to use day-care facilities but instead take care of their children themselves). Second, local cultural values and belief systems condition creativity among political actors and stakeholders, and thus impact on local policies, which may divert from national or international intentions.The project will thus provide a basis for understanding how culture may constrain the transferability of best practices from one country/locality to another. Overall this project will pave the way for evidence based urban policy recommendations for local welfare system improvement in order to enhance economic growth, female employment and social cohesio