Work-Family Arrangements in Europe

by Laura Den Dulk, Joop Schippers (Editor), Anneke van Doorne-Huiskens

The time that most women were full-time housewives has gone. European women today are well educated and have a strong orientation towards employment and career making. Balancing work and family care responsibilities is becoming an important issue in many households. Both women and men look for ways to combine tasks. Strategies aimed to reconcile employment and family life differ between countries and depend on the availability of work-family arrangements such as child care, leave, and flexible working hours. This volume discusses government and workplace policies designed to enable employees to combine paid work with family responsibilities in various national contexts. Experts from the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Italy and Sweden discuss the number and nature of facilities available in their country, the role of employers and the impact of the welfare state regime. The book gives an overview of the various political debates in Europe and of the provisions that have been realised. Questions raised are: how do government policies interact with practices of organisations? Is it true that an active public policy prevents firms from realising work-family arrangements or does it invite employers to create supplementary provisions? These and other questions explore ways in which reconciliation of work and family life can be achieved.

177 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999