ABSTRACT This study focuses on the role of parenthood ideologies on the micro and meso level as individual determinants to take up parental leave among fathers in Belgium. Belgian parental leave policies are characterized by a ‘laisser faire’ mentality regarding the division of parental leave uptake. Based on in-depth interviews with 20 heterosexual couples our study highlights the impact of norms

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to explore the work-life balance (WLB) crafting strategies of employees with telecommuting work arrangements during the COVID-19 pandemic. Qualitative data from 112 employees in the Philippines were collected through online surveys. Deductive thematic analysis was then conducted to identify the physical, cognitive and relational WLB crafting strategies that they

ABSTRACT Communicating work issues at home and home issues at work, also known as across-the-border (ATB) communication, is a part of everyday work and family interaction. This study focuses on the concept of ATB communication, using Work/Family Border Theory, according to which the boundaries between work and private life are seen as negotiated and shaped through social interactions and practices

ABSTRACT This Voices article presents emerging findings from research investigating the consequences of Covid-19 on individuals engaged on employability programmes in the United Kingdom. It outlines the challenges presented by ‘lockdown’ restrictions, as introduced to reduce the spread of Covid-19, on the delivery of employability programmes. Individuals engaged on such programmes experience a wealth

ABSTRACT Nigeria is home to the highest number of older adults in Africa. The country will continue to experience an upward trend in the size of this sub-population, yet there are limited government measures to address their well-being. Studies have shown that families and communities are predominant sources of support in caregiving for older adults in Nigeria. However, there seems to be a few studies

ABSTRACT Domestic work constitutes a large sector, with more than a million women working as domestic workers. In South Africa, it is a norm that whites employ black women as domestic servants, but with the demise of apartheid, there has been an increase in the employment of domestic workers in black families. However, hiring family members as domestic workers in black families is an under-researched

ABSTRACT This article presents practical interpretation of an institutional ethnography, which examines the organization of young disabled children and their families. The article begins with an understanding that the experiences of young disabled children can teach us about the ways in which we organize around ability, and the power that is held by the institutions that claim to ‘support', ‘help'

ABSTRACT In many welfare regimes, families and communities are often considered as social policy solutions to the extent that they are called into action to provide support and care services. The resort to ‘family’ and ‘community’ seems to contrast the atomization of today’s society, but it entails two risks: first, the privatization of welfare; second, the exclusion of the most fragile and needy people

ABSTRACT Meeting work and family demands can be challenging for all families, and even more challenging when raising a child with special health care needs. This current qualitative study interviewing 16 working fathers who care for a child with special health care needs, examines U.S. fathers’ experiences of work-family-community fit, adding to the still limited body of work-life research about fathers

(2021). Wellbeing and the community, work & family interface. Community, Work & Family: Vol. 24, The Multiple Contexts of Workers’ Wellbeing. Guest Editors: Laura den Dulk and Jennifer Swanberg, pp. 115-119.

ABSTRACT Match or mismatch between the demands of work, home, and the broader community shape individuals’ well-being, leading to some recognition of mismatch as a public health issue. Using a life-course framework, I draw on farm families as an illustrative case to explore how couple work arrangements influence individual well-being. Farm couples face many demands within a family-based business, including

ABSTRACT In this Voices article, we use emerging evidence to reflect on the consequences of Covid-19 for various aspects of workers' wellbeing. This brief review emphasises how COVID-19 exacerbates existing, well-understood inequalities, along the intersections of community, work, and family. Workers on the periphery of the labour market, including non-standard workers and the self-employed, but also

ABSTRACT Paid leave for family and medical reasons is an important workplace benefit for older workers with eldercare responsibilities by offering time off from work to deal with the need for caregiving, but little is known about its effects on eldercare provision. I study the association between employer-provided paid leave and eldercare provision among workers aged 45 or over, using the 2011 and

ABSTRACT This paper reflexively considers the muted narratives of a desire for pregnancy and parenthood in teenaged women's accounts of their journey to motherhood after deciding on abortion with their first, unexpected, pregnancy. By contrast their accounts were replete with good citizenship narratives that attested to pregnancy avoidance. Through the use of the Listening Guide, a feminist, layered

ABSTRACT This paper presents a theoretical framework of women’s empowerment developed from an intervention in South India. The framework is unique in that, in addition to common empowerment indicators, it emphasizes the relational aspect of empowerment including the role of men, family, and gendered power structures—and the flexibility of these to change. This is especially pertinent to India, which

ABSTRACT Although the high levels in Latin America, women’s necessity-driven entrepreneurship is a field that has been little explored. Contemporary research suggests that entrepreneurs may experience less work-life conflict than other workers, but that gender differences mean that women are at a disadvantage in terms of uses of time and the sexual division of labor. We explore how 20 Chilean craftswomen

ABSTRACT A qualitative investigation of the relationship between the experience of bodily pain and work-life balance was conducted in a sample of manual/non-managerial workers in the Australian construction industry. Participants were purposefully selected for the study on the basis that they reported experiencing ongoing bodily pain. Thematic analysis of the interview data revealed that participants

ABSTRACT Many low-income women face precarious or low-quality employment, and studies show that low-quality maternal employment is linked with poorer outcomes for children. This study examines whether maternal multiple job holding, an understudied facet of employment quality, is associated with children’s behavior in early childhood. Multiple job holding may affect parental time, well-being or income

ABSTRACT Child protection workers remain understudied in research on ‘frontline’ workers, even though they are often exposed to the traumatic circumstances of their clients’ lives on top of their intense workload, tight deadlines and day-to-day crisis management. Extensive evidence has shown that both clients’ needs and work demands combine to diminish child protection workers’ well-being, leading

ABSTRACT This research note reports survey responses of Australian men (N = 220) gathered as part of a larger study exploring men’s grief following pregnancy loss and neonatal death. We explore the types of workplace leave offered to men and how men perceived leave and support provided by their employers. Almost all men (91%) informed their workplace of their loss, and 74% were offered some form of

ABSTRACT This study explored the effects of demands related to caring for children and youth with mental health difficulties and of resources in community ecologies including health services, schools, neighborhoods, and social supports, on parental workforce participation. Through secondary analysis of U.S. data from the 2016 National Survey of Children’s Health, we found that when children’s mental

ABSTRACT The guilt that mothers feel about the time and energy that they invest in work instead of their family is often proposed to be an important reason for why mothers ‘opt-out’ the career track. We sought to understand if mothers indeed experience more work-family guilt than fathers and how this relates to both their own gender role beliefs and organizational gender norms across nine European

ABSTRACT Community is a key dimension in the work–family interface as highlighted by the recent Covid-19 pandemic. Yet it is critically understudied by much work–family scholarship. We highlight and address crucial barriers preventing the integration of the community concept, developing an interdisciplinary community-based capabilities approach. This approach conceptualizes three components of community:

ABSTRACT The present study analyzes workers’ non-use of telework in German workplaces. Recent research has focused mainly on the implications of telework for employees. Non-users of telework, and their reasons for non-use are under-researched. We ask to what degree cultural barriers, besides technical barriers, contribute to the non-use of telework. The analyses are based on the second wave (2014–15)

ABSTRACT This article aims at analysing how subjective work-family conflict is experienced by different self-employed men and women in comparison to employees and informal workers in Europe. Firstly, it focuses on how job-related resources and demands characterise traditional and emerging types of self-employment affecting the perception of work-family conflict. Secondly, it explores both gender-related

ABSTRACT Drawing on my involvement as an academic in the campaign that resulted in the introduction of paid parental leave in Australia in 2010, I describe what is involved if academics choose to be activists, the dilemmas which are encountered and the barriers which may be put in their way. I also consider the career tensions academics may experience when participating in the public sphere. My experience

ABSTRACT The world is still reeling from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many lost their jobs. It was during this pandemic that people payed more attention to freelancing. However, even before the pandemic, this phenomenon was already gaining ground in the Philippines. The purpose of this paper is to explore Filipino professionals’ lived experiences as they transition from the corporate world

ABSTRACT There is a robust literature that examines outcomes associated with work-life supports. Scholars have considered the ‘fit’ between employee needs and the supports available while others have examined the ‘usability’—or the potential consequences of using—work-life supports. In this article, we suggest that ‘fit’ and ‘usability’ could be related to both employees’ own demographic, social, and

ABSTRACT Due to the lack of a federal paid parental leave policy in the United States, access to leave for most US workers is dependent on whether their employer offers paid leave. Our research explores employer-based access to parental leave among Fortune 500 companies. We develop a classification of leave policies based on how policies differ for mothers and fathers: gender equal (equal periods of

ABSTRACT This study investigates the subjective well-being (SWB) and related resources of expatriate partners during international assignments. The data were collected in 20 in-depth interviews with the partners of high-status Finnish expatriates and analyzed by employing thematic analysis. The results show that relocation causes significant changes in expatriate partners’ condition resources that

ABSTRACT The relationships that hold community, work, and family together are globally diverse. This complexity is not always acknowledged, and the importance of local context and understandings are often missed. For the field to advance, new perspectives must be welcomed as they will shift boundary conditions of what is positioned as privileged. This will open space not only to add empirical richness

ABSTRACT This study explored the characteristics and prevalence of female breadwinning among primary school teachers. A cross-sectional survey design was used to obtain data from 2428 out of 22,666 female primary school teachers in Enugu State, Nigeria. A questionnaire previously used in Nigeria to study female breadwinners was adapted and used for data collection. The female breadwinning measure aspect

ABSTRACT Employment and breastfeeding among first-time mothers in Malaysia remain problematic, due, in part, to the lack of clear policies and policy implementation. This article, based on a phenomenological study utilising dyadic interviews with eight participants and twelve interviews, explores the experience of Malaysian first-time parents managing both breastfeeding and employment. The findings

ABSTRACT In this article, we considered women’s experiences of undertaking Higher Education (HE) study (Foundation Degree in Early Years (EY)) drawing on research based in the North of England, UK. The study, informed by a social constructionist approach, explored 10 women’s experiences of work–life balance (WLB) and well-being alongside HE study through semi-structured interviews. A focus group explored

ABSTRACT In 2017, South Korea’s total fertility rate was 1.26 live births per woman, the sixth-lowest in the world. Employment is significantly negatively associated with second births in Korea. To increase fertility rates and help working women better balance work and family lives, a series of government family-supportive workplace policies and employer-provided occupational benefits have been implemented

ABSTRACT Despite a persistent notion that women exit academia due to family responsibilities, research on exits is scarce. Based on 32 interviews, the paper explores how male and female PhDs recount the choice of leaving versus remaining in academia in terms of aspirations, opportunities and constraints. The main question is whether the exit/remain decision reflects gendered work-family strategies

ABSTRACT Although many academics in the United States assume that work-life balance, especially for women, is better at teaching-intensive colleges than at research-intensive universities, there is no systematic data to support this belief. We analyzed survey data from 909 faculty at a research-intensive public university, a masters-level public college, and two private colleges to test this assumption

ABSTRACT Most of the research evaluating the import of paternal migration for children’s outcomes has taken ‘left-behind children’ as a single group. Taking a life course perspective, this paper distinguishes fathers’ short-term and long-term migrations, as well as return migration, as they affect children’s productive activities. Using the Mexican Family Life Survey (2002–2009), we followed school-aged

ABSTRACT Spillover theory refers to positive and/or negative influence of work environment on the family sphere or vice versa. This article shows presence of both types of spillover in the Spanish Armed Forces. The information analysed has been extracted from a survey on military’s couples, with a questionnaire that included a block of open-ended questions. These questions asked about the positive

ABSTRACT Despite an increase in dual-earner families and the recent emphasis on involved fathering and work-family balance, there is a paucity of Australian men adopting flexible working arrangements to help them better manage work and family life. This research explored Australian father’s perceptions and experiences of workplace flexibility, and the factors that influence their engagement with such

ABSTRACT It is currently believed that functioning in family and professional roles can bring negative and positive experiences, indicating the development of competences useful in both areas. How these areas interact may indicate a particular type of balance achieved by the individual. Work-family balance is relatively well recognized in parents of non-disabled children, but to a lesser extent, in

We are living in challenging and uncertain times. At the time this article was edited, there were already more than 2.4 million confirmed cases of the corona virus (COVID-19) (World Health Organiza...

ABSTRACT This article develops a critical inquiry into women’s processes of renouncement in their pursuit of work- and family-oriented goals. It brings together insights from two different schools of thought: the capability approach and critical sociology. This qualitative analysis is focused on how processes of resource conversion fail to mobilise women’s resources and instead block their capabilities

ABSTRACT This study uses the British Household Panel Survey to assess how working conditions affect union dissolution, distinguishing between cohabiting and married couples. While previous studies focus on labour income and measures related to working time, we address three new working conditions of the 24/7 economy, namely temporary employment, promotion opportunities, and job responsibility. We find

ABSTRACT Traditional family characteristics within sub-Saharan African migrant families settling in Australia are challenged in the process of acculturation. These challenges gain prominence when sub-Saharan African migrant families become involved with the Child Protection System. In order to successfully engage these families, Child Protection practitioners will need a deeper understanding and appreciation

ABSTRACT In recent decades, many countries modified their maternity and parental leave programmes, changing elements such as length, wage replacement levels, and eligibility criteria. We employ sequence analysis of women and men’s employment trajectories in the two years before and after a birth to explore changes occurring alongside reforms that advanced different policies: a short, compulsory, and

ABSTRACT Following the passage of the Minneapolis Sick and Safe Leave city ordinance, a community-based participatory research (CBPR) project was launched to examine the perceived accessibility and usage of paid sick leave by African American employed caregivers as a work-based family support tool. This paper presents qualitative findings from the Paid Sick Leave and African American Families study

ABSTRACT In Australia many children were negatively affected by past institutional child care regimes. In this qualitative research, the authors consider the long-term impacts that such care has had on a small sample of one particular population in relation to their sense of belonging as they age. This population is known as Forgotten Australians and refers to people who lived in this type of care

ABSTRACT To better understand the gap between women’s childbearing aspirations and actual levels of childbearing, this paper investigates the importance of employment, relationship and motherhood transitions for predicting women’s desired number of children. Women born in 1973–78 participating in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health were asked, at three-time points over six years, how

ABSTRACT This policy note highlights contemporary research on single parents, and reflects on its implications for social policy developments in the European Union. Three directions of thought are developed regarding single parents’ resources, employment and social policies. The aim is to expand the scope of choice among policy alternatives for policy makers. The rise of shared residence urges us to

ABSTRACT Poor worker health is estimated to cost employers more than half a trillion dollars per year in lost productivity [Japsen, B. (2018, November 15). Poor worker health costs U.S. employer’s half trillion dollars a year. Retrieved March 8, 2019, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucejapsen/2018/11/15/poor-worker-health-costs-u-s-employers-half-trillion-dollars-a-year/]. Stress, especially as

ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to identify and analyze the potential of women who could be empowered for rural development. To achieve these objectives, a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches was used. This combination model is a dominant-less dominant design, where the qualitative data were obtained through in-depth interviews and observations, while the quantitative data were

ABSTRACT This study used qualitative interviews to explore perceptions of labour market participation in relation to gender norms and parenting ideals among employed Swedish men and women of migrant descent. Using an abductive thematic approach, we demonstrate how the respondents viewed labour market participation from different perspectives. The females saw it as a source of emancipation, whereas

ABSTRACT Leadership practices in organizations play an important role in shaping the conditions for employees’ work-family balance. Previous research on the topic has mainly focused on women; fathers are said to receive little support from leadership for combining work and family. In this study, the focus is on men working in six Finnish organizations representing male-dominated, female-dominated and

ABSTRACT Tenure track faculty face a multitude of work–family demands as part of their progression in academia. By engaging in a autoethnography, we examine the amount of time spent in institutional, spousal, parental, and personal demands. This research note, illuminates relational and logistical qualities of that time, providing additional depth to the concept of work–family balance. We scrutinize

In our Voices section, we highlight short opinion pieces relating to issues in the field of community, work and family. For this issue, we’ve interviewed Richard J. Petts, Professor of Sociology at...

ABSTRACT This manuscript aims to synthesize what is known, and what is unknown, about immigrants’ experiences of work-family interaction, specifically the work-family conflict, in the U.S. A systematic review method was conducted using multiple electronic databases. After applying inclusion criteria, six studies were included. Immigrant workers across studies in this systematic review reported experiencing

ABSTRACT Workplace flexibility is perceived to benefit parents yet evidence of the effectiveness of formal work arrangements in promoting parents’ health is mixed, and few have evaluated informal flexibility. This study investigates Australian mothers’ and fathers’ use of formal (employer-provided) and informal (self-directed) work arrangements and associations with work-family conflict and health

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