MEHE KODU ON MAAILM, NAISE MAAILM ON KODU? - Tartu Ülikool

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