federal department of home affairs fdha federal statistical office fso balancing family and work in...

Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHAFederal Statistical Office FSO

Balancing family and work in everyday life:

a European comparison

Dr. Katja Branger

Social Analysis Section

Presentation at the

UNECE Work Session on Gender Statistics

Geneva, 6-8 October 2008

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Family and work balance as a gender topic

• Women, particularly mothers, are now more often economically

active than in the past

• In families it is increasingly the case that both parents work

• The challenge of combining family and professional life concerns

every economically active member of the family as well as the

family as a whole

=> What do the indicators of the UNECE Gender Database show us

concerning family and work balance from a gender perspective

and in international comparison?

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Indicators analysed in this paper

• Working patterns in couple households• Time spent in paid and unpaid work• Part-time employment of men and women

Other indicators to include in future work

• Employment rate by age of youngest child• Employment rate by number of children under 16• Employment rate by age and marital status• One-parent families and children by sex of parent• Unemployment by age• Gender pay gap

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Countries included in the analysis are those with 2005-2006

data in UNECE Database for the three indicators considered:

BelgiumGermanyHungaryItalySpainSwedenSwitzerland

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Working patterns in couple households

Solutions for balancing professional and family life are usually found in the division of labour between the two partners.Couples’ working patterns illustrate the division of labour.

Data show that traditional patterns with the man working full-time are the most common in all countries, occurring in at least 8 in 10 couple households.

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Working patterns in couple households, 2005-2006Only persons aged 25 to 49 years

Source: UNECE Gender Statistics Database

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Hungary

Spain

Italy

Sweden

Belgium

Germany

Switzerland

Man & woman full-time Man full-time / woman part-time

Man full-time / woman not working Man & woman not working

Other pattern

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Working patterns in couple households by presence and age of children in selected countries, 2005-2006

Only persons aged 25 to 49 years


0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Without children

Child aged up to 6

Child aged more than 6

Without children

Child aged up to 6


Without children

Child aged up to 6


Without children

Child aged up to 6


Hun

gary

Italy

Sw

eden

Sw

itzer

land

Man & woman full-time Man full-time/ woman part-time Man full-time / woman not working

Man & woman not working Other pattern

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Part-time work

Part-time work offers the possibility to solve or mitigate the problem of balancing work and family.

But it can also be a reflection of limited mothers’ participation in the labour force due to insufficient childcare services, as it is the case in Switzerland: mothers who wish to be economically active often cannot find an adequate (and affordable) childcare solution.

Part-time work not only has the positive aspect of enabling people to reconcile professional and private life. It can also mean job insecurity, poor social welfare provision (e.g. in old age) and sometimes fewer opportunities to pursue vocational training or build a career.

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Women

0102030405060

Switzerland

Germany

Belgium

Sweden

Italy

Spain

Hungary

Among all employed Working pattern in couples: part-time

Men

0 10 20

Part-time employed persons in general and those aged 25 to 49 living in couple households, 2005-2006

in %Source: UNECE Gender Statistics Database

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Paid and unpaid work

In all countries there is a clearly gendered role division: looking after the home and the family is still the woman’s or mother’s job, even in countries where women, especially mothers often have paid employment due to their increased participation in the labour force.

In most countries studied, women shoulder a greater total workload of both paid and unpaid work, apart from Switzerland and Sweden, where the burden is shared equally between the sexes.

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Total

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Women

Men

Women

Men

Women

Men

Italy

Sw

eden

Sw

itzer

land

Paid Unpaid

Parents with pre-school children

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Time spent in paid and unpaid work, 2000-2004Hours per week, persons aged 15+


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Summary

• In most countries a rather traditional division of labour is still very widespread: men working full-time and women working part-time or economically inactive.

• Compared to fathers, mothers are faced with much higher demands when combining family and professional life since in most cases they are responsible for looking after the household.

• Part-time work represents a solution to the problem of balancing work and family, but it can also have negative consequences and be a reflection of insufficient childcare services.

• The working patterns of couple households change fundamentally as soon as children are present, depending of their age.

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Further work

• Completing analysis with indicators mentioned previously• Including the evolution over time

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