Comparative Perspectives on Work-Life Balance and Gender Equality


Book Description

This book is open access under a CC BY-NC 2.5 license. This book portrays men’s experiences of home alone leave and how it affects their lives and family gender roles in different policy contexts and explores how this unique parental leave design is implemented in these contrasting policy regimes. The book brings together three major theoretical strands: social policy, in particular the literature on comparative leave policy developments; family and gender studies, in particular the analysis of gendered divisions of work and care and recent shifts in parenting and work-family balance; critical studies of men and masculinities, with a specific focus on fathers and fathering in contemporary western societies and life-courses. Drawing on empirical data from in-depth interviews with fathers across eleven countries, the book shows that the experiences and social processes associated with fathers’ home alone leave involve a diversity of trends, revealing both innovations and absence of change, including pluralization as well as the constraining influence of policy, gender, and social context. As a theoretical and empirical book it raises important issues on modernization of the life course and the family in contemporary societies. The book will be of particular interest to scholars in comparing western societies and welfare states as well as to scholars seeking to understand changing work-life policies and family life in societies with different social and historical pathways.




Comparative Perspectives on Work-Life Balance and Gender Equality


Book Description

This book portrays men’s experiences of home alone leave and how it affects their lives and family gender roles in different policy contexts and explores how this unique parental leave design is implemented in these contrasting policy regimes. The book brings together three major theoretical strands: social policy, in particular the literature on comparative leave policy developments; family and gender studies, in particular the analysis of gendered divisions of work and care and recent shifts in parenting and work-family balance; critical studies of men and masculinities, with a specific focus on fathers and fathering in contemporary western societies and life-courses. Drawing on empirical data from in-depth interviews with fathers across eleven countries, the book shows that the experiences and social processes associated with fathers’ home alone leave involve a diversity of trends, revealing both innovations and absence of change, including pluralization as well as the constraining influence of policy, gender, and social context. As a theoretical and empirical book it raises important issues on modernization of the life course and the family in contemporary societies. The book will be of particular interest to scholars in comparing western societies and welfare states as well as to scholars seeking to understand changing work-life policies and family life in societies with different social and historical pathways.




Gender Equality and Work-Life Balance


Book Description

Pressure to achieve work-life "balance" has recently become a significant part of the cultural fabric of working life in United States. A very few privileged employees tout their ability to find balance between their careers and the rest of their lives, but most employees face considerable organizational and economic constraints which hamper their ability to maintain a reasonable "balance" between paid work and other life aspects—and it is not only women who struggle. Increasingly men find it difficult to "do it all." Women have long noted the near impossibility of balancing multiple roles, but it is only recently that men have been encouraged to see themselves beyond their breadwinner selves. Gender Equality and Work-Life Balance describes the work-life practices of men in the United States. The purpose is to increase gender equality at work for all employees. With a focus on leave policy inequalities, this book argues that men experience a phenomenon called "the glass handcuffs," which prevents them from leaving work to participate fully in their families, homes, and other life events, highlighting the cultural, institutional, organizational, and occupational conditions which make gender equality in work-life policy usage difficult. This social justice book ultimately draws conclusions about how to minimize inequalities at work. Gender Equality and Work-Life Balance is unique as it laces together some theoretical concepts which have little previous association, including entrepreneurialism; leave policy, occupational identity, and the economic necessities of families. This book will therefore be of particular interest to researches and academics alike in the disciplines of Gender studies, Human Resource Management, Employment Relations, Sociology and Cultural Studies.




Comparative Perspectives on Gender Equality in Japan and Norway


Book Description

This book compares perspectives on gender equality in Norway and Japan, focusing on family, education, media, and sexuality and reproduction as seen through a gendered lens. What can we learn from a comparison between two countries that stand in significant contrast to each other with respect to gender equality? Norway and Japan differ in terms of historical, cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. Most importantly, Japan lags far behind Norway when it comes to the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Report. Rather than taking a narrow approach that takes as its starting point the assumption that Norway has so much ‘more’ to offer in terms of gender equality, the authors attempt to show that a comparative perspective of two countries in the West and East can be mutually beneficial to both contexts in the advancement of gender equality. The interdisciplinary team of researchers contributing to this book cover a range of contemporary topics in gender equality, including fatherhood and masculinity, teaching and learning in gender studies education, cultural depictions of gender, trans experiences and feminism. This unique collection is suitable for researchers and students of gender studies, sociology, anthropology, Japan studies and European studies.




The Flexibility Stigma


Book Description

A compendium of research studies from some of the most prominent researchers studying the dynamics of workplace flexibility in organizational psychology, sociology, and law. They explore gender inequality in access to and rewards/punishments from flexible work schedules, paid leave, and telecommuting.




Research Handbook on Leave Policy


Book Description

Featuring contributions from leading international scholars of social policy, this dynamic Research Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of conceptual and methodological developments in leave policy research, as well as state-of-the-art findings on leave policy determinants and outcomes globally. This title contains one or more Open Access chapters.




Parental Leave and Beyond


Book Description

This volume brings together contributors from 18 countries to provide international perspectives on the politics of parental leave policies in different parts of the world. Initially looking at the politics of care leave policies in eight countries across Europe, the US, Latin America and Asia, the book moves on to consider a variety of key issues in depth, including gender equality, flexibility and challenges for fathers in using leave. In the final section of the book, contributors look beyond the early parenthood period to consider possible future directions for care leave policy in order to address the wider changes and challenges that our societies face.




Promoting Gender Equality and Tackling Demographic Challenges


Book Description

Two broad contrasting demographic trends present challenges for economies globally: countries with aging populations, often advanced economies and increasingly emerging markets, anticipate a significant shrinking of the labor force, with implications for growth, economic stability, and public finances. Economies with rapidly growing populations, as is the case in many low-income and developing countries, will face a burgeoning young population entering the labor market in the next decades—a large potential to reap the demographic dividend if the right skills and economic and social conditions are in place. This note highlights how gender equality, in both cases, can serve as a stabilizing factor to rebalance demographic trends. As decisions regarding fertility, human capital investment, and labor force participation are interlinked, policies should aim at relaxing households’ time and resource constraints that condition these choices. This means that, in general, in advanced economies and emerging markets, policies should facilitate women’s work–life choices and boost female participation in the labor market, whereas policies in low-income and developing countries should focus on reforms that narrow gender gaps in opportunities and support human capital accumulation.




Women's Lives


Book Description

Women’s Lives integrates the most current research and social issues to explore the psychological diversity of girls and women varying in age, ethnicity, social class, nationality, immigrant experience, sexual orientation, gender identity, ableness and body size and shape. The text embeds a lifespan perspective within each topical chapter and has an intersectional approach that integrates women’s diverse identities. It includes rich coverage of women with disabilities and on middle-aged and older women throughout. Taking a deeper transnational focus, it also examines the impact of social, cultural, and economic factors in shaping women’s lives around the world. This edition explores the latest areas of research and tackles important contemporary topics such as: feminization of immigration media portrayals of LGBTQ individuals and immigrants regulating testosterone levels in women’s sports; disorders of sexual development; nonbinary identity the effects of social media on body image; sizeism new classification of sexual disorders menstrual equity and the "tampon tax" migrant women as transnational mothers academic environment for low-income, ethnic minority, and immigrant women effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on women’s employment and work-family balance the dilemma of unpredictable work hours healthcare barriers experienced by immigrant women and LGBTQ individuals #MeToo movement; vigilante gender violence the fourth wave of feminism the role of immigrant women and ethinc minority women in grassroots feminist activism men’s support of feminist issues and more Boasting a new full-color design and rich with pedagogy, the book includes several boxed elements in each chapter. "In The News" boxes present current news items designed to engage students in thinking critically about current gender-focused events and issues. The "What You Can Do" boxes give students examples of applied activities that they can engage in to promote a more egalitarian society. "Get Involved" boxes ask students to collect data and to critically think about the explanations and implications of the activity’s findings. "Learn About the Research" boxes expose students to a variety of research methods and highlight the importance of diversity in research samples by including studies of underrepresented groups. At the end of each chapter, "What Do You Think" questions foster skills in critical thinking, synthesis, and evaluation by asking the student to apply course material or personal experiences to provocative issues from the chapter. The "If You Want to Learn More" feature provides names of the most current books available on various topics that are discussed in the chapter. Combining up-to-date research with an approachable and engaging writing style, Women’s Lives is an invaluable resource for all students of gender from psychology, women’s studies, gender studies, sociology, and anthropology.




The Palgrave Handbook of Family Sociology in Europe


Book Description

This handbook provides a meaningful overview of topical themes within family sociology as an academic field as well as empirical realities in various societal contexts across Europe. More than sixty prominent European scholars’ original texts present the field’s main theoretical and methodological approaches in addition to issues such as families as relationships, parental arrangements, parenting practices and child well-being, family policies in welfare state regimes, family lives in migration, and family trajectories. Presenting cutting-edge research on findings, theoretical interpretations, and solutions to methodological challenges, it is a timely tool for researchers, teachers, students, and family practitioners who wish to familiarise themselves with the state of family sociology in Europe.