The paper offers a way forward in the theorisation of gender regimes, which builds on comparative analyses of gender relations developed in political science and sociology. It offers an appreciative and critical review of the theorisation of gender at meso and macro levels, including the new feminist institutionalism, varieties of gender regimes, varieties of breadwinner households and of reproductive bargains. It addresses the tension between approaches that focus on differences between countries and those that focus on differences in developments in specific institutions. The proposed framework distinguishes between neoliberal and social democratic forms of public gender regime, thereby developing the conceptualisation of the varieties of gender regime. The model is put to work in offering a new conceptualisation of the changes in gender relations during the current financial and economic crisis.
