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Future Perspectives on Work and Family Dynamics in Southern Europe: The Importance of Culture and Regional Contexts
Future Perspectives on Work and Family Dynamics in Southern Europe: The Importance of Culture and Regional Contexts
Tuesday, 12 July 2016: 16:00-17:30
Location: Hörsaal 41 (Main Building)
RC06 Family Research (host committee) Language: English
The wider context of the trade-off between work and family is not just a matter of changing preferences. Work and family balance involve either–or choices and these choices depend on the policy environment in which they are made.
The Mediterranean countries model (Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Greece) take a specific family-oriented approach to work-family reconciliation. They are family-oriented in that they entrust the family with more responsibilities that in other countries. Work-family reconciliation is considered as a political action that gives quite limited and unstable support to encourage women’s labour market participation; this results in the poor development of external services and in little benefits for women, who have to undertake multiple roles inside and outside the family. In these countries, negotiation is left to the private spheres of the couple or local communities, so that each family can decide on the best way to use the existing policies and consider the possibilities available to them.
In this sense it is not possible only to apply “outside models” (such as the Nordic, French, German, etc.) to find an effective approach for these countries.
The session invites papers starting from the current situation and exploring possibilities for future scenarios in Southern Europe countries concerning work-family dynamics. We welcome general comparative papers or case study on work-care arrangements, family and care policies, early childhood education and care (ECEC) with regard to family well-being, gender equality, fertility or father involvement in Southern European countries.
Session Organizers: