Diapositiva 1

1
Work and Life Balance A Critical Perspective
Sara Moreno Colom Research Institute of Work
(IET) Sociological Research Group of Everyday
Life and Work (QUIT) Department of Sociology
Autonomous University of Barcelona sara.moreno_at_uab
.es
2
The goal of this paper is twofold

• 1st To analyse Work and Live Balance (WLB)
  policies from a critical perspective that takes
  into account a gender approach
• 2nd To explain the need to promote change in the
  social and cultural norms with regard to the
  sexual division of labour in order to provide an
  environment that fosters WLB

3
This paper is organized in five sections
1. Introduction 2. Reference point EU gender
policies 3. The Gap between Policy and Everyday
Life 4. The Spanish case 5. Some ideas for the
future
4
1. Introduction

• Sociological Research Group of Everyday Life and
  Work
• (QUIT-Department of Sociology, Autonomous
  University of Barcelona)
• QUIT research focus in WLB
• 1. Research about WLB and Collective Bargaining
  (2004)
• 2. Research about men and women job history
  (2010)
• 3. Research about working conditions in new and
  growing sectors (2011)

5
2. Reference point EU gender policies

• Approach
• Academic and political debate about WLB from
  gender approach
• Academic concept
• Balance or reconciliation?
• Mediation without imposition between two opposing
  spheres labour market and everyday life
• Policies
• European Council on Employment
• (Equal Opportunities Men and Women, Luxemburg
  1998).
• Policies not arise in response to a social demand
  to improve equality
• Policies arise in response to a socio-demographic
  changes
• - Increase female workforce
• - Decrease birthrate
• - Increasing ageing population
• - Migration

6
2. Reference point EU gender policies

• Three major stages in the design and planning of
  gender policies within the European setting
• Non-discrimination policies
• Equal opportunities policies
• Gender Mainstreaming strategy

7
2. Reference point EU gender policies

• What can be said about the impact of WLB policies
  15 years later?
• The main policy target is facilitate the
  employment of women
• The main subject is the working mother
• The main sphere is the labour market
• The main measure of balance is working time
• But it remains some questions
• Where is the sexual division of work?
• Where are other workers and, specially, the
  father worker?
• Where is the domestic, family and personal life?
• Where is the time to do domestic and care work?

8
3. The Gap between Policy and Everyday Life

• The orientation of WLB policies have focused
  on making it easier to perform domestic work and
  care work without taking into account their
  unequal distribution between men and women.
• It affects womens chance to participate in
  the job market.
• It has negative repercussions on mens
  commitment to domestic work and care for
  dependent persons.

9
3. The Gap between Policy and Everyday Life

• Legal regulation has less impact than social
  and cultural constraints
• The adult worker model is false because women
  have not got freedom of choice
• Despite the increase of dual earner the male
  breadwinner model persists as a social model

10
3. The Gap between Policy and Everyday Life
How can we explain this situation? Different
gender socialisation as a mechanism of the
current inequalities between men and
women. The lack of social and economic value
given to domestic and care work The main role
of working time in the social organisation How
can we observe these inequalities? Its
difficult to observe empirical evidence of these
explanatory factors however its consequences are
easy to measure with time use data.
11
Use of time by women and men aged 20 to 74 (hours
and minutes per day)
Gainful work/study Gainful work/study Domestic work Domestic work Total work Total work Meals and personal care Meals and personal care Free time Free time
women men women men women men women men women men
Belgium 207 330 432 238 639 608 243 240 450 522
Germany 205 335 411 221 616 556 243 233 524 552
Estonia 233 340 502 248 735 628 208 215 436 528
Spain 226 439 455 137 721 616 233 235 429 517
France 231 403 430 222 701 625 302 301 408 446
Italy 206 426 520 135 726 601 253 259 408 508
Latvia 341 509 356 150 737 659 210 210 409 448
Lithuania 341 455 429 209 810 704 222 225 349 450
Hungary 232 346 458 240 730 626 219 231 438 529
Poland 229 415 445 222 714 637 229 223 436 525
Slovenia 259 407 458 240 757 647 208 213 429 534
Finland 249 401 356 216 645 617 206 201 530 608
Sweden 312 425 342 229 654 654 228 211 504 524
U K 233 418 415 218 648 636 216 204 504 532
Norway 253 416 347 222 640 638 208 202 551 603
Aliaga (2006) Eurostat Statistics in focus 4/2006
12
Composite working time (hours per week) by gender
(average EU27)
13
Source EWCS, 2010
14
Source Kan et al. 2010
15
Empirical data shows that ...

• Male employment rate is higher than the female
  rate
• Workplace segregation (both vertical and
  horizontal) remains
• Female part-time employment rate is higher than
  male rate
• Part-time work is more frequent among women with
  children, while for men the percentage remains
  steady
• Women spend more time in domestic and care work
  than men
• .

16
In conclusion

• The massive incorporation of women into the
  labour market has not been accompanied by a
  massive incorporation of men into the domestic
  and family environment
• So women find themselves immersed in a double
  commitment system in which they accumulate work
  and care responsibilities in an attempt to
  reconcile work, family and personal lives.
• This system serves to highlight the shortcomings
  in real equality and shows the gap between the
  socially accepted discourse and peoples everyday
  reality.

17
4. The Spanish case

• 1. Research about WLB in Collective Bargaining
  (2004)
• Conclusions of stakeholders interviews and
  collective bargaining analysis
• The legislation only regulates occasional leave,
  and does not take into account daily and routine
  needs of domestic-care work
• More leave, services and cash benefits are
  offered in caring for children than in caring for
  dependent adults and the elderly
• This contradicts demographic trends population
  is growing older and the birth rate has not
  increased
• There has been a gradual improvement in the
  presence of WLB in the collective bargaining
• Negotiations considered WLB an issue of gender
  equality and not an issue of working conditions.
• The law must finally be interpreted, translated
  and specified in collective bargaining
  negotiations.
• WLB vary between sectors and workers

18
4. The Spanish case

• 1. Research about WLB in Collective Bargaining
  (2004)
• Conclusions of case study about a pharmaceutic
  company
• Good practices in WLB as a condition of being
  recognised as a socially responsible company
• Some measures are business practices that existed
  years ago, which have been recalled (canteen
  boucher, parking, sport centre)
• Company proposes good practices as part of their
  HR departments instead of collective bargaining
  negotiation. This has got some risks
• To offer individual solutions to a social
  problems
• To polarise workforce some workers benefit from
  WLB and others do not it (according gender,
  education level, age)
• To improve company profits above quality of work
  and life (flexibility which intensify work,
  management objectives)

19
4. The Spanish case

• 2. Research about men and women job history
  (2010)
• Conclusions of comparative analysis of job
  histories of men and women
• The sexual division of labour remains
• Domestic and care work is present in womens job
  history and it is absent in mens job history
• It appears a continuum between regulated and
  unregulated employment according gender and
  generation
• Job history of older men began employment in
  informal economy and progress to formal economy
• Job history of women remain in the informal
  economy more because is the only way to combine
  work and family responsibilities
• Job history of young people began and remain in
  the informal economy because is the only way to
  be employment

20
4. The Spanish case

• 3. Research about working conditions in the new
  and growing sectors (2011)
• Conclusions about stakeholders and workers
  interviews
• The catering case the company takes in advantage
  women WLB needs to intensify work same tasks,
  less time to do them
• Time pressure to save staff costs and to flexible
  control the workforce with a timetable change
  (From 11am to 16pm/ From 11am to 15pm)
• Women to maintain satisfactory WLB timetable had
  to accept a more intensive working day

21
4. The Spanish case

• Consequences of the current economic crisis
• WLB is a privilege of whom are employment
• Public cuts in education and health increase
  domestic and care work for the families (school
  canteens, less days in hospital)
• Increase jobs in informal economy
• Reduce and intensify working time as an employer
  strategy to save staff cost
• Increase in men unemployment because decrease
  jobs in male sectors such as construction
• Increase in women with the breadwinner role
• Do these last two factors have any consequences
  for the gender division of labour?

22
5. Some ideas for the future

• socialisation and education are keys to bridge
  the gap between Policy and Everyday life
• WLB has merit as a concept but WLB policy can
  be problematic
• Problematic ways
• the vast majority of WLB policies have been
  limited to facilitating female employment
• they have done this without improving male
  participation in domestic and care work
• female part time working is a false solution for
  WLB
• What happens with elder people? social care for
  the future

23
5. Some ideas

• Successful ways
• to promote campaigns between stakeholders that
  make the social importance of domestic work and
  care work for the society
• to promote measures to redistribute domestic and
  care work between women and men
• to abandon the idea that women are the only ones
  who have problems combining their work and
  personal lives
• to promote men as agents of change compulsory
  paternity and parental leave?
• To promote the idea that all the workers have WLB
  needs. Introduce flexibility in the job history
  according life cycle needs of the workers (not
  only company profit) training leave, time
  reduction for parental responsibilities,
  flexibility for social care, part-time
  retirement)

24
A question

• Do humans resources specialist prefer a 30 years
  old man worker to a 30 years old woman worker?
• Do line managers prefer a 30 years old man worker
  to a 30 years old woman worker?

25
Work and Life Balance A Critical Perspective
Sara Moreno Colom Research Institute of Work
(IET) Sociological Research Group of Everyday
Life and Work (QUIT) Department of Sociology
Autonomous University of Barcelona sara.moreno_at_uab
.es