Possibilities for change and new frontiers: introduction to the Work and Family Researchers Network special issue on advancing equality at work and home

ABSTRACT

This special issue showcases recent scholarship that clarifies the nature of inequality as it emerges at the intersection of today's workplaces and homes. We bring together scholarly works presented during the Work and Family Researchers Network conferences from 2018 and 2020. These articles provide a foundation for the development of future knowledge that advances equality at work and home, paying special attention to the complex nature of work and family in diverse contexts. Our introduction to the issue further highlights the need to amplify the voices and experiences of marginalised groups of people around the world who have received limited attention in the work and family literature. We conclude by offering suggestions of the role each of us can play in helping the work-family field become more inclusive and expanding ways of knowing that better represent work-family occurrences across diverse contexts.

KEYWORDS:

• Work-family
• equality
• intersectional inequalities
• inclusion
• diverse contexts

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Heejung Chung

Heejung Chung is Professor of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Kent. She is a labour market and work-family researcher focusing mostly on working conditions, flexible working and workers' well-being and gender equality outcomes. She is the author of the book Flexibility Paradox (2022) published by Policy Press.

Ameeta Jaga

Ameeta Jaga is Associate Professor of Organisational Psychology at the University of Cape Town. Her work-family research focuses on gender and class issues using a Southern perspectives to prioritise context while underlining global inequalities in knowledge production.

Susan Lambert

Susan Lambert is Professor in the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice. Her research seeks to identify strategies for balancing the needs of employers for labor flexibility with the needs of workers for stable and predictable hours and earnings.