Comparative Perspectives On Work Life Balance And Gender Equality

This book is open access under a CC BY-NC 2.5 license. This book portrays men’s experiences of home alone leave and how it affects their lives and family gender roles in different policy contexts and explores how this unique parental leave design is implemented in these contrasting policy regimes. The book brings together three major theoretical strands: social policy, in particular the literature on comparative leave policy developments; family and gender studies, in particular the analysis of gendered divisions of work and care and recent shifts in parenting and work-family balance; critical studies of men and masculinities, with a specific focus on fathers and fathering in contemporary western societies and life-courses. Drawing on empirical data from in-depth interviews with fathers across eleven countries, the book shows that the experiences and social processes associated with fathers’ home alone leave involve a diversity of trends, revealing both innovations and absence of change, including pluralization as well as the constraining influence of policy, gender, and social context. As a theoretical and empirical book it raises important issues on modernization of the life course and the family in contemporary societies. The book will be of particular interest to scholars in comparing western societies and welfare states as well as to scholars seeking to understand changing work-life policies and family life in societies with different social and historical pathways.

This book portrays men’s experiences of home alone leave and how it affects their lives and family gender roles in different policy contexts and explores how this unique parental leave design is implemented in these contrasting policy regimes. The book brings together three major theoretical strands: social policy, in particular the literature on comparative leave policy developments; family and gender studies, in particular the analysis of gendered divisions of work and care and recent shifts in parenting and work-family balance; critical studies of men and masculinities, with a specific focus on fathers and fathering in contemporary western societies and life-courses. Drawing on empirical data from in-depth interviews with fathers across eleven countries, the book shows that the experiences and social processes associated with fathers’ home alone leave involve a diversity of trends, revealing both innovations and absence of change, including pluralization as well as the constraining influence of policy, gender, and social context. As a theoretical and empirical book it raises important issues on modernization of the life course and the family in contemporary societies. The book will be of particular interest to scholars in comparing western societies and welfare states as well as to scholars seeking to understand changing work-life policies and family life in societies with different social and historical pathways.

In today’s globalised world economy, it is becoming increasingly pressing to shine a light on the interface of work and private life. In order to fully understand the issue we must take an inclusive view and not limit our understanding to Western perspectives. This contributed volume encompasses research and perspectives from the global south, including Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and South America. In doing so, this collection fills a gap in existing literature to give a broader view of the topic. Divided by geographic territory into three sections, the book combines original research, case studies and interviews as well as comparative studies. Chapters cover a wide range of emerging issues including gender and work-life balance; the role of culture; men and household work and work and family balance, to name a few. Crucially, the book offers critical perspectives and understanding of work-life interface/balance/conflict as a collection of conceptual, theoretical, and empirical studies that draws on qualitative and mixed methodologies. Bringing a unique contribution to the field, this book is a useful resource for students, academics, managers and policy makers.

Numerous challenges exist in respect to integrating work and family institutions and there is remarkable cross-national variation in the ways that societies respond to these concerns with policy. This volume examines these concerns by focusing on cross-national variation in structural/cultural arrangements. Consistent support is found in respect to the prospects of expanding resources for working families both in the opportunity to provide care, as well as to remain integrated in the workforce. However, the studies in this volume offer qualifiers, explaining why some effects are not as strong as might be hoped and why effects are sometimes restricted to particular classifications of workers or families. It is apparent that, when different societies implement similar policies, they do not necessarily do so with the same intended outcomes, and usage is mediated by how policies are received by employers and workers. The chapters in this book speak to the merits of international comparative analysis in identifying the strategies, challenges and benefits of providing resources to workers and their families. This book was originally published as a special issue of Community, Work & Family.

Featuring contributions from leading international scholars of social policy, this dynamic Research Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of conceptual and methodological developments in leave policy research, as well as state-of-the-art findings on leave policy determinants and outcomes globally. This title contains one or more Open Access chapters.

This book compares perspectives on gender equality in Norway and Japan, focusing on family, education, media, and sexuality and reproduction as seen through a gendered lens. What can we learn from a comparison between two countries that stand in significant contrast to each other with respect to gender equality? Norway and Japan differ in terms of historical, cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. Most importantly, Japan lags far behind Norway when it comes to the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Report. Rather than taking a narrow approach that takes as its starting point the assumption that Norway has so much ‘more’ to offer in terms of gender equality, the authors attempt to show that a comparative perspective of two countries in the West and East can be mutually beneficial to both contexts in the advancement of gender equality. The interdisciplinary team of researchers contributing to this book cover a range of contemporary topics in gender equality, including fatherhood and masculinity, teaching and learning in gender studies education, cultural depictions of gender, trans experiences and feminism. This unique collection is suitable for researchers and students of gender studies, sociology, anthropology, Japan studies and European studies.

The term ‘work-life balance’ refers to the relationship between paid work in all of its various forms and personal life, which includes family but is not limited to it. In addition, gender permeates every aspect of this relationship. This volume brings together a wide range of perspectives from a number of different disciplines, presenting research ndings and their implications for policy at all levels (national, sectoral, enterprise, workplace). Collectively, the contributors seek to close the gap between research and policy with the intent of building a better work-life balance regime for workers across a variety of personal circumstances, needs, and preferences. Among the issues and topics covered are the following: – differences and similarities between men and women and particularly between mothers and fathers in their work choices; – ‘third shift’ work (work at home at night or during weekends); – effect of the extent to which employers perceive management of this process to be a ‘burden’; – employers’ exploitation of the psychological interconnection between masculinity and breadwinning; – organisational culture that is more available for supervisors than for rank and le workers; – weak enforcement mechanisms and token penalties for non-compliance by employers; – trade unions as the best hope for precarious workers to improve work-life balance; – crowd-work (on-demand performance of tasks by persons selected remotely through online platforms from a large pool of potential and generic workers); – an example of how to use work-life balance insights to evaluate the law; – collective self-scheduling; – employers’ duty to accommodate; and – nancial hardship as a serious threat to work-life balance. As it has been shown clearly that work-life con ict is associated with negative health outcomes, exacerbates gender inequalities, and many other concerns, this unusually rich collection of essays will resonate particularly with concerned lawyers and legal academics who ask what work-life balance literature has to offer and how law should respond.

Few time periods in the past five decades match the intensity of intergroup conflict that people around the world are currently experiencing. Polarized attitudes around various sociopolitical issues, such as gender equality and immigration, have dominated the media and our lives. Furthermore, these powerful social dynamics have also impacted the places where we work and intensified existing strains on workers and workplaces. To address these issues and improve organizational climates, more theories, research and collaborations to understand these phenomena are needed. The volumes in this series will describe and instigate scholarship that advances our understanding of diversity in organizations. In recognition of the centennial anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which granted American women the right to vote and the subsequent struggle for women of color to exercise it, this volume features the personal narratives of recognized scholars in the field who have advanced understanding of gender at work. In this way, we appreciate, and gain perspective on, the rewards and challenges of this essential scholarship and the lives of those who engage in it. The combination of these narratives is an exciting and meaningful exploration of the study of gender and its intersection with other marginalized social identities at work that authentically captures the experiences of scholars in the field and inventively pushes our understanding of diversity in organizations.