Does gender matter? Policies, norms and the gender gap in work-to-home and home-to-work conflict across Europe

Abstract

This article examines gender differences in work-to-home conflict (WHC) and home-to-work conflict (HWC) in 10 European countries and considers to what extent such differences can be linked to the institutional/societal context. This study combines the conventional demand-resource approach and an institutional framework on work–family reconciliation policies and gender norms by using data from the European Social Survey. The analyses reveal that work and home demands affect men's and women's perceived conflict somewhat differently, and that the two conflict dimensions are gender asymmetrical and linked to patterns that result from men's and women's traditional home and work spheres. This cross-country comparative analysis shows greater gender gap in perceived conflict in countries with weaker policy support for work–family reconciliation and more traditional gender norms suggesting that individuals' perceptions of WHC and HWC are institutionally embedded.

Este artículo examina las diferencias de género en conflictos trabajo-hogar y hogar-trabajo en diez países europeos, y considera hasta qué punto estas diferencias pueden estar relacionadas con el contexto institucional/social. El estudio combina el enfoque convencional de demanda-recursos y un marco institucional de políticas de conciliación entre el trabajo y la familia, aparte de normas de género, utilizando datos de la Encuesta Social Europea. Los análisis revelan que las demandas de la vida laboral y familiar afectan los conflictos del entorno laboral y familiar, respectivamente, de forma algo distinta para hombres y mujeres. Además, las dos dimensiones de conflicto son asimétricas en cuanto al género, y relacionadas con los patrones que se producen por las esferas tradicionales de trabajo y hogar de hombres y mujeres. La análisis comparativa entre países demuestra que la diferencia de género en conflictos percibidos es más grande en países donde hay menos apoyo político de conciliación de la vida laboral y familiar, y normas de género más tradicionales. Esto indica que el contexto institucional influye en las percepciones individuales de conflictos entre el trabajo y el hogar.

Keywords:

• work–home conflict
• work–life balance
• family policies
• gender norms
• Europe

Palabras claves:

• conflictos entre trabajo y hogar
• equilibriio entre vida y trabajo
• políticas familiares
• normas de género
• Europa

Acknowledgements

The author is grateful for constructive comments and suggestions from Barbara Hobson, Livia Sz. Oláh and Gerda Neyer (Department of Sociology, Stockholm University), and the anonymous reviewers.

Notes on contributor

Susanne Fahlén holds a Ph.D. in sociology from the Department of Sociology, Stockholm University. Her research focuses on gender and social politics in a European perspective with a special focus on work–life balance, childbearing intentions and realised fertility.

Notes

1. The specific policies are those in place in 2004/2005 when the European Social Survey (Round 2) was launched.

2. The FTE of paid leave, a comparative measure of leave systems, is the duration of paid leave if it were paid in 100% of previous earnings (OECD, 2008).

3. The response rates in ESS2 vary from 50.1% to 79.1% with an effective sample of 579–3026 individuals across the countries (ESS, 2007).

4. Weights are used to correct for differences in sample design (ESS, 2010).

5. This indicator mainly relates to perceived time deficit at home. However, such deficit is related to the responsibilities in the household, which can influence the spill over to work performance in terms of fatigue and concentration difficulties.

6. The correlation between the standardised parental leave indicators and the childcare indicators is 0.97.