Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA
Federal 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
Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA
Federal Statistical Office FSO
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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Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA
Federal Statistical Office FSO
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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Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA
Federal Statistical Office FSO
Countries included in the analysis are those with 2005-2006
data in UNECE Database for the three indicators considered:
Belgium
Germany
Hungary
Italy
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
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Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA
Federal Statistical Office FSO
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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Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA
Federal Statistical Office FSO
Working patterns in couple households, 2005-2006
Only 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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Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA
Federal Statistical Office FSO
Working patterns in couple households by presence and age of children in selected
countries, 2005-2006
Only persons aged 25 to 49 years
Source: UNECE Gender Statistics Database
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Without children
Hungary
Child aged up to 6
Child aged more than 6
Without children
Italy
Child aged up to 6
Child aged more than 6
Without children
Sweden
Child aged up to 6
Child aged more than 6
Switzerland
Without children
Child aged up to 6
Child aged more than 6
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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Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA
Federal Statistical Office FSO
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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Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA
Federal Statistical Office FSO
Part-time employed persons in general and those aged 25 to 49 living in
couple households, 2005-2006
in %
Source: UNECE Gender Statistics Database
Women Men
Hungary
Spain
Italy
Sweden
Belgium
Germany
Switzerland
60 50 40 30 20 10 0 0 10 20
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Among all employed Working pattern in couples: part-time
Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA
Federal Statistical Office FSO
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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Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA
Federal Statistical Office FSO
Time spent in paid and unpaid work, 2000-2004
Hours per week, persons aged 15+
Source: UNECE Gender Statistics Database
Total Parents with pre-school children
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Women
Italy
Men
Women
Sweden
Men
Switzerland
Women
Men
Paid Unpaid
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Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA
Federal Statistical Office FSO
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 12
their age.
Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA
Federal Statistical Office FSO
Further work
• Completing analysis with indicators mentioned previously
• Including the evolution over time
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