How do institutions increase mothers' poverty risk? This is the leading question in investigat ing the potential impact in a comparative study of three countries, Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom. It is stressed that different institutional settings (labour market provision, social security benefits and family law regu lation) are closely interacting in sbaping mothers' access to income resources. Together they structure the environment witbin which key decisions of actors are made about the combination of paid and unpaid activities and of public and private support for mothers and children. Important aspects affecting mothers' poverty risk are the degree of privatization or socialization of direct and indirect cbild costs and of care times, as well as the hierarchy be tween subsidizing fatherhood, motherhood or marriage. To set out a framework for insti tutional analysis, a number of factors sbaping the entitlement to social security benefits are enlisted which may contribute towards driving mothers into poverty.
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