MEHE KODU ON MAAILM, NAISE MAAILM ON KODU? - Tartu Ãlikool
MEHE KODU ON MAAILM, NAISE MAAILM ON KODU? - Tartu Ãlikool
MEHE KODU ON MAAILM, NAISE MAAILM ON KODU? - Tartu Ãlikool
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TÖÖ- JA PEREELU ÜHITAMINE REC<strong>ON</strong>CILING WORK AND FAMILY LIFE<br />
REC<strong>ON</strong>CILING WORK AND FAMILY LIFE AS A TASK FOR<br />
WOMEN?<br />
Siim Krusell<br />
Introduction<br />
Family as a social institution, although constantly changing in time, is a pillar of the sustainability<br />
of society. Having children is generally a norm in a family. As this norm changes, the role of the<br />
family as a guarantee of sustainability of the society becomes questionable. Working has an<br />
important role in guaranteeing sustainability and subsistence of families. According to the<br />
Estonian Labour Force Survey, more than a half of Estonian inhabitants are employed and spend<br />
considerable time in a week on working. People work on average 40 hours a week (full-time<br />
employees). In addition, a significant amount of time is spent on moving between home and work.<br />
It is equally important to be successful at work and have a fulfilling family life, thus the<br />
reconciliation of work and family life is a key issue. In the European context there are countries<br />
which view facilitating work and family life reconciliation as an important goal in the labour market<br />
and social and family policy and there are countries where little attention is paid to this issue. The<br />
Nordic countries (Sweden, Finland and Denmark) are good examples of the countries where<br />
combining work and family life is quite smooth. This is facilitated by well-developed public<br />
services, including childcare facilities, and flexibility of the labour market which all enable easy<br />
return of the parents who have been temporarily absent from it, also contributing to the time<br />
flexibility and work location flexibility. At the same time, combining work and family life is related<br />
to great difficulties in Anglo-Saxon (Ireland, the United Kingdom) as well as Southern European<br />
countries (Italy, Portugal) (Kotowska et al. 2010).<br />
Thus, an important role in reconciling work and family life is played by labour market flexibility<br />
which means, for example, opportunities to regulate one’s working hours (time flexibility) and the<br />
place of working (work location flexibility). Additionally, functional and contract flexibility are<br />
defined. One of the objectives of the present article is to analyse reconciliation of work and family<br />
life from the perspective of time and location flexibility.<br />
Labour market flexibility may also initiate a decision whether to temporarily leave the labour<br />
market or determine how difficult it is to return to the labour market with children at home. Return<br />
to the labour market or a temporary leave from it is, however, affected not only by its flexibility.<br />
The existing legislation which directly concerns staying at home with children and organisation of<br />
flexible working life as well as the possibility to use available childcare facilities, i.e whether there<br />
are enough childcare facilities and whether families can afford using them, also has an important<br />
role.<br />
Thus, the article also analyses taking of a temporary parental leave from the labour market,<br />
return to the labour market and also the use of childcare facilities.<br />
Today, employment of women is considered a norm and equal opportunities for men and women<br />
are being stressed. However, a woman’s role as a mother is still considered more important than<br />
that as an employee (Ghysels 2004). Women’s work load which is equal to that of men in paid<br />
employment (however the wages are lower) and bigger when household work is considered as<br />
well as the general favourable attitude towards traditional roles in a family have created a<br />
situation where combining work and family life is mainly a problem for women (Hansson 1999).<br />
The fact that reconciliation of work and family life is mainly a task for women is supported by the<br />
data on employment of males and females described in Figure 1. (Figure 1)<br />
The highest share of employed men was among those whose households included children up to<br />
two years or younger – over 84% of them were employed. Employment rate was more than<br />
80% among all men whose households included minor children. Among women, the least active<br />
in the labour market were those whose households included children aged two years or younger.<br />
Only 27% of those women were employed and only 5% were looking for work. If a household<br />
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<strong>MEHE</strong> <strong>KODU</strong> <strong>ON</strong> <strong>MAAILM</strong>, <strong>NAISE</strong> <strong>MAAILM</strong> <strong>ON</strong> <strong>KODU</strong>? MAN'S HOME IS THE WORLD, WOMAN'S WORLD IS HER HOME?