Conflict Between Work and Family: An Investigation of Four Policy Measures

Welfare states enact a range of policies aimed at reducing work-family conflict. While welfare state policies have been assessed at the macro-level and work-family conflict at the individual-level, few studies have simultaneously addressed these relationships in a cross-national multi-level model. This study addresses this void by assessing the relationship between work-family and family-work conflict and family-friendly policies in 10 countries. Applying a unique multi-level data set that couples country-level policy data with individual-level data (N = 7,895) from the 2002 International Social Survey Programme, the author analyzes the relationship between work-family and family-work conflict and four specific policy measures: family leave, work scheduling, school scheduling, and early childhood education and care. The results demonstrate that mothers and fathers report less family-work and mothers less work-family conflict in countries with more expansive family leave policies. Also, in countries with longer school schedules mothers report less and women without children more work-family conflict.     

Work-Family Conflict and Working Conditions in Western Europe

This article explores the influence of working conditions on work-family conflict (WFC) among married/cohabiting employees across seven European countries. Using data from the European Social Survey, the paper first investigates the role of working conditions relative to household level characteristics in mediating work-family conflict at the individual level. It then considers whether perceived conflict is lower in countries with coordinated production regimes and where social policy is more supportive of combining paid work and care demands. For men the lowest rates of WFC occurred in Denmark, Sweden and Norway, so for men there was a distinct ‘Nordic’ effect consistent with the welfare and production regime expectations. For women, we find paradoxically that ‘raw’ levels of work-family conflict are particularly high in France, Denmark and Sweden where supports for reconciling work and family life are high. Our models show that the high conflict among French women can be explained by household composition factors and so is due to higher levels of family pressures. Higher levels of conflict among Danish and Swedish women appear to be associated with their longer hours of work. Work conditions are found to play a larger role than family characteristics in accounting for work-family conflict, both in the country level models and in the pooled models. While this partly reflects our focus on the spillover of work into family life, it is notable that family characteristics have little effect in mediating work pressures. The results suggest that a policy emphasis on improving work conditions is likely to have major leverage in reducing work-family conflict.

Social security reforms and poverty among older dual-earner couples

Existing retirement studies have, in the main, focused only on labor supply decisions of couples in which the husband has been the sole earner. This paper extends the focus of analysis to examine retirement among dual-earner couples. It further develops a framework for assessing how several past and prospective Social Security reforms might be expected to affect older working couples' retirement ages and retirement incomes. Two questions are addressed in some detail: (1) What are the likely effects of various changes in Social Security rules on the retirement decisions of older working women and their husbands? and (2) How might these changes alter the incidence of poverty among retired dual-earner couples? Empirical evidence from the United States suggests that many benefit reforms currently being discussed in policy circles will enhance Social Security system revenues, but will also worsen the economic status of an important segment of dual-earner couples.     

Work-family conflict in comparative perspective: The role of social policies

This study focuses on the role of social policies in mitigating work-family incompatibilities in 27 countries. We ask whether work-family conflict is reduced in countries that provide family-friendly policies and flexible employment arrangements, and whether women and men are similarly affected by such policies. The study, based on the ISSP 2002, demonstrates considerable variation among countries in the perceived work-family conflict. In all but two countries, women report higher levels of conflict than men. At the individual level, working hours, the presence of children and work characteristics affect the perception of conflict. At the macro level, childcare availability and to a certain extent maternity leave reduce women's and men's sense of conflict. Additionally, the availability of childcare facilities alleviates the adverse effect of children on work-family balance for mothers while flexible job arrangements intensify this effect.     

Development and Evaluation of a Parent-Employee Interrole Conflict Scale

We took a deductive (theoretically-based) approach to develop scales to measure a specific aspect of work-family conflict: interrole conflict between individuals' roles as parents and as employees, or parent-employee conflict (P-E conflict). Results supported (a) three empirically distinct aspects of P-E conflict: parenting interfering with work (PIW), work interfering with parenting (WIP) and general P-E conflict (G), (b) the discriminant validity of PIW, WIP, and G as compared to general work-family conflict (W-FC) and work role conflict (WRC), and (c) the nomological validity of P-E conflict scales in terms of predicted relationships with measures of other related constructs. Scale items are presented, and recommendations for scale use and future research directions are offered.     

Aging Couples in Dual-Career/Earner Families:

The authors present results of an empirical study of 611 mature couples in a dual-career or dual-earner famil where at least one spouse is a member of The National Retired Teacher's Association and is retired. We hypothesize that degree of role-sharing will va among mature couples in this special population on the basis of sexcted personal and social characteristics. Through discriminant analysis we identify which personal and social variables best predict whether or not couples currently share roles. We also determine the change in role-sharing over time for these couples. Our hypothesis is confirmed.     

Feeling Close to Fellow Citizens in Hong Kong,Korea, Taiwan,and Thailand

Feeling close to fellow citizens in the city is a feature of social cohesion that is worth investigation among East Asian societies for exploring societal conditions for the closeness. Because of the variation of such conditions among the societies, differentials in the closeness among the societies are possible. As the variation of societal conditions can translate into differences in personal characteristics and experiences, such differences are likely to explain differentials in the closeness. This likelihood is a focus for the present study, which surveyed 4,087 adult citizens in Hong Kong (n = 681), South Korea (n = 1,006), Taiwan (n = 1,200), and Thailand (n = 1,200). Results revealed significant differentials in the closeness among the societies, showing that it was highest in Thailand and lowest in Taiwan. Furthermore, these differentials were largely due to differences in personal and characteristics among citizens in the four societies. Among the significant predictors of the closeness, work-family conflict and the costliness of medical expense are two experiences. The two experiences, as well as other predictors, champion a conflict or social force explanation for citizens’ closeness. Accordingly, conflict or social force that is incapacitating would estrange the incapacitated individual from others. The results and explanation imply that relieving work and family conflicts is relevant to lifting citizens’ closeness. In conclusion, the East Asian societies manifested differentials in citizens’ social cohesion, and the differentials are explicable by differentials in resources and conflicts among the societies.     

Balancing Work and Family: A Panel Analysis of the Impact of Part-Time Work on the Experience of Time Pressure

In this article we consider the consequences of work-family reconciliation, in terms of the extent to which the adjustment of the labour market career to family demands (by women) contributes to a better work-life balance. Using the Flemish SONAR-data, we analyse how changes in work and family conditions between the age of 26 and 29 are related to changes in feelings of time pressure among young working women. More specifically, by using cross-lagged models and synchronous effects panel models, we analyse (1) how family and work conditions affect feelings of time pressure, as well as (2) reverse effects which may point to (working career) adjustment strategies of coping with time pressure. Our results show that of all the considered changes in working conditions following family formation (i.e. having children), only the reduction of working hours seems to improve work-family balance (i.e. reduces the experience of time pressure). Part-time work is both a response to high time pressure, and effectively lowers time pressure. The effect of part-time work is not affected by concomitant changes in the type of paid work, rather, work characteristics that increase time pressure increase the probability of reconciling work with family life by reducing the number of work hours.     

The Effect of Union Type on Work-Life Conflict in Five European Countries

This paper explores the strategies for reconciling family and work in different union types. The focus here is on investigating how cohabiting and married individuals perceive the work-life conflict in different European countries. To test the union type impact on work-life balance in the context of different societal conditions, this paper draws on 2004 ESS data from Sweden, Germany, United Kingdom, Slovenia and Estonia (European Social Survey 2004). The pooled country data are examined to analyze the association between work-life conflict and socio-demographic, as well as family-level characteristics of individuals. The findings did not demonstrate uniform differences in the work-life conflict of married and cohabiting couples. However, a higher degree of work-life conflict among Swedish cohabiting women was still significant when controlling for individual characteristics, household composition and working conditions.     

Domestic Outsourcing in an Ultra-Low Fertility Context: Employing Live-in Domestic Help and Fertility in Hong Kong

The fertility rate in Hong Kong has been very low for decades. Because work–family conflict is one of the major barriers for married couples in actualizing their fertility ideals, domestic outsourcing that relieves women from the burden of domestic labor may help reduce the gap between ideal and actual fertility. Hiring live-in domestic helpers, who co-reside with the hiring families and work on a full-time basis, is gaining popularity in Hong Kong. However, past studies neither inside nor outside of East Asia have examined how employing live-in helpers affects fertility. This study investigates the relationship between live-in helpers and fertility by analyzing retrospective event-history data we collected from a representative survey of married couples in Hong Kong (n?=?1697). Our results show that married couples employing live-in helpers tend to have more children than couples not employing live-in helpers. Specifically, the practice is associated with higher odds of first childbirth and of second childbirth, with no evidence of a positive effect beyond bearing a second child. The findings have implications for other East Asian societies, which share similar backgrounds of ultra-low fertility rates, rising female labor force participation rates, rigid gender inequalities in domestic labor, and demanding work cultures.

     

Gendered Time-Crunch and Work Factors in Denmark

Being crunched for time is an important aspect of life quality. Although Denmark is a country known for gender-equality, on average mothers are more time-crunched than fathers. We show this using a representative sample of Danish dual-earner couples with at least one child aged 0–10 years. We analyze the determinants of time-crunch in relation to work factors for the individual as well as the spouse and find significant gender differences. One result is that longer working hours are associated with more time-crunch for both mothers and fathers, whereas the amount of housework only matters for mothers. The results show that men and women have different working conditions, which partly explains the gendered time-crunch.     

The Impact of Fathers’ Work and Family Conflicts on Children’s Self-Esteem: The Hong Kong Case

Work and family conflicts are always viewed as issues of human resource management or occupational health. Insufficient attention has been focused on the impact on child development and quality of parenting, especially regarding the impact of a father’s work. To examine the impact of work and family conflicts on the quality of father–child interactions in Hong Kong, a cross-sectional survey was conducted. In total, 556 pairs of working fathers and their school-aged children participated in the survey. The findings of the survey indicated that fathers’ work-to-family conflicts negatively affected the quality of father–child interactions, which in turn caused harm to children’s self-esteem. In addition to work-family conflicts, a low income level of the fathers, a larger number of children in the family, and the presence in the family of children approaching adolescence were significant risk factors to the quality of father–child interactions. The mothers’ active parental involvement and the complexity of the fathers’ occupation were significant protective factors of the quality of father–child interactions. To facilitate strong family bonding and good quality parenting, possible measures to ensure a healthy work-family balance among working fathers are discussed.     

Gendering fertility: Second births in Sweden and Hungary

With the growing prevalence of the dual-earner family model in industrialized countries the gendered nature of the relationship between employment and parenting has become a key issue for childbearing decisions and behavior. In such a context taking into account the societal gender structure (public policies, family-level gender relations) explicitly can enhance our understanding of contemporary fertility trends. In this paper we study the second birth, given its increasing importance in the developed world as large proportions of women remain childless or bear only one child. We focus on Sweden where gender equality is pronounced at both the societal and the family level and on Hungary where the dual-earner model has been accompanied by traditional gender relations in the home sphere. Our analysis is based on data extracted from the Swedish and Hungarian Fertility and Family Surveys of 1992/93. We use the method of hazard regression. The results suggest that the second-birth intensity increases as the combination of parenthood and labor-force attachment of either parent is facilitated. We see this in the effect of family policies in Sweden and in the higher second-birth intensity of couples who share family responsibilities as compared to those with traditional gender-role behavior in both countries. Also, the lack of any visible impact of men's educational attainment in both Sweden and Hungary is probably linked to public policies as state support for families with children has reduced the importance of income for second childbearing. A positive educational gradient for Swedish women and an essentially zero gradient in Hungary reflects the success of policy measures in reducing fertility cost for more educated women in both countries.     

Gendered futures, constrained choices: undergraduate perceptions of work and family

Debates about the gendered division of labour tend to focus on negotiation and decision-making by couples in the present, and assume that individuals make rational choices based on present circumstances when deciding questions about workforce engagement, domestic labour and childcare responsibilities. As a result, they overlook the fact that choices made in the present are shaped by past choices. We argue that choices made in the present about work and family are better understood as the outcome of a complex mix of choices that are made across the life course. Drawing on interview data with university undergraduates we show how they were already engaging in ??gendered?? choices about careers long before the spectre of work and family became a daily reality. These choices were made in relation to future identities in which young men imagine a nirvana of seamless work-family balance, while young women imagine a future of compromise and negotiation with inevitable career interruption. In seeking to understand these highly gendered positions our paper contributes to debates about choice in work and family.     

Dual-earner parents’ work-family time: the effects of atypical work patterns and non-parental childcare

Finding time to both earn money and raise children is demanding. Within the constraints and opportunities of their employment and social policies affecting work and family, parents seeking to manage their time may use a number of strategies. For example, they can outsource childcare or adopt atypical work patterns: non-standard work schedules, self employment, working from home. In this paper we compare the effects of these measures on the household time use and gender division of labour of dual-earner couples with children, using data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics Time Use Survey, 2006 (n?=?772 couples). We find that these strategies do help households manage their work and family time. However, this is almost exclusively a result of women changing their time use. Such measures generally enable mothers, not fathers, to adjust paid work around family commitments, and offer little amelioration of gendered divisions of labour. This reinforces normative gender-role expectations and is probably a result of institutional constraints, including sparse social policy and workplace support for mothers?? full-time employment and for fathers?? involvement in childcare.     

Job characteristics of spouses and their work shifts

This study builds on an earlier finding from the May 1980 Current Population Survey that one-third of full-time dual-earner couples with children in the United States include at least one spouse who works other than a regular day shift. Using the same data source, the relevance of husbands’ and wives’ job characteristics (occupation and industry) on their shift work status are considered, and the nature of the association between husbands’ and wives’ work shifts is explored. Four alternative models are initially posed and tested with log-linear analysis; these models vary in the extent to which a spouse’s shift work status is contingent upon the job characteristics of a husband or wife. None of these models fit the data. A modification of the simplest of the four models (using forward selection) is the best fitting model. It is not symmetrical: the wife’s shift is contingent upon both her occupation and industry and that of her husband, but the husband’s shift is contingent only upon his occupation and industry. There is a relationship between husband’s and wife’s shift, the direction of which depends upon the occupations of both spouses. This study demonstrates the importance of taking a “couple” perspective on shift work among married persons, and the need for models that include interaction effects.     

Work shifts of full-time dual-earner couples: Patterns and contrasts by sex of spouse

Work shifts of full-time dual-earner couples are analyzed with data from the May 1980 U.S. Current Population Survey. Over 20 percent of husbands and about 12 percent of wives work other than a regular day shift. Variations in shift work status by sex of spouse are examined according to job, race, and life-cycle characteristics. A multivariate analysis indicates that a different composite offactors affects the shift work status of husbands and wives. Given the wide variation in the prevalence of non-day employment within major groups and the sex segregation of the labor force, we look at detailed occupations and industries to the extent possible.     

Social Policies and Families in Stress: Gender and Educational Differences in Work–Family Conflict from a European Perspective

In modern welfare states, family policies may resolve the tension between employment and care-focused demands. However these policies sometimes have adverse consequences for distinct social groups. This study examined gender and educational differences in working parents’ perceived work–family conflict and used a comparative approach to test whether family policies, in particular support for child care and leave from paid work, are capable of reducing work–family conflict as well as the gender and educational gaps in work–family conflict. We use data from the European Social Survey 2010 for 20 countries and 5296 respondents (parents), extended with information on national policies for maternity and parental leave and child care support from the OECD Family Database. Employing multilevel analysis, we find that mothers and the higher educated report most work–family conflict. Policies supporting child care reduce the level of experienced work–family conflict; family leave policy appears to have no alleviating impact on working parents’ work–family conflict. Our findings indicate that family policies appear to be unable to reduce the gender gap in conflict perception and even widen the educational gap in work–family conflict.     

“Negotiating Fairness”: A Study on How Lesbian Family Members Evaluate,Construct, and Maintain “Fairness” with the Division of Household Labor

In this article, I examine how dual-earner lesbian families construct and evaluate an equal division of household labor through their perceptions of “fairness.” Through 22 interviews of dual-earner lesbian families (a total of 44 subjects), I identify that lesbian partners use social comparisons with heterosexual families with whom they have contact, as well as their former heterosexual and homosexual families as an important link to justify what they believe to be a fair division of household labor. Childhood socialization and parental models, however, were not shown to adequately explain how members of a lesbian family construct a perception of equality concerning household division of labor.     

Family policies,employment and poverty among partnered and single mothers

The risk of poverty for single mothers ranges from less than 2% in Sweden to more than 35% in the United States; less extreme cross-national variations also exist for partnered mothers. We explore which family policies are most effective at directly reducing poverty among families with children, and whether these policies indirectly reduce poverty through supporting mothers’ employment. We combine microdata from the Luxembourg Income Study with the Work-Family Policy Indicators dataset, and use multilevel logistic regressions to examine the associations between policy and poverty, controlling for individual-level factors. We find significant effects of family allowances, generous parental leaves and childcare provisions, with more powerful effects for single mothers. We further show that parental leave and childcare operate through boosting mothers’ employment, illustrating that work-family policies are useful for reducing poverty by enhancing mother's employment.