Work-life Balance Initiatives in the European Union

Avrupa Birliği'ndeki İş-Yaşam Dengesi Girişimleri

Nurhan SÜRAL

Work-life balance initiatives cover measures to combine work, private life and family life more effectively. As stated in the Europe 2020 Strategy, demographic ageing is accelerating in the EU and the EU deems it necessary to promote an increase in the birth-rate by means of specific legislation and measures for work-life reconciliation. At the core of these issues is the dilemma of how to ensure that an increase in female employment is compatible with family responsibilities. This article aims to provide an overview of the strategies, formulated goals and targets, drafted legislation and initiatives started by the policymakers at the EU level to mitigate work-life reconciliation and therefore to reduce gender inequalities.

Work-Life, Family Responsibilities, Family Life, Private Life.

Çalışma yaşamı ile ailevi yükümlülükleri dengelemeye yönelik çabalar, iş, özel yaşam ve aile yaşamının daha etkin bir biçimde bağdaştırılması için alınan önlemleri içerir. AB Avrupa 2020 İstihdam Stratejisinde belirtildiği üzere, AB’de nüfus yaşlanmaktadır ve iş-yaşam dengesini sağlayacak mevzuat ve önlemler yoluyla nüfus artışı teşvik edilmelidir. Doğumlar teşvik edilirken aynı zamanda kadın istihdamında artışın da sağlanması, buradaki ikilemi oluşturur. Makale, AB düzeyinde iş ve aile yaşamlarının uyumlaştırılmasına ve dolayısıyla toplumsal cinsiyet farklılıklarının azaltılmasına hizmet eden düzenlemeleri, politikaları ve hedefleri incelemeyi amaçlamaktadır.

Çalışma Yaşamı, Ailevi Yükümlülükler, Aile Yaşamı, Özel Yaşam

In view of demographic trends, the European Union deems it necessary to promote an increase in the birth-rate by means of specific legislation and measures to combine work, private life and family life more effectively.¹ As stated in the Europe 2020 Strategy,² demographic ageing is accelerating; the EU's active population (workforce) shrinks as from 2013/2014. The number of people aged over 60 is now increasing twice as fast as it did before 2007 – by about two million every year compared to one million previously. The combination of a smaller working population and a higher share of retired people will place additional strains on welfare systems in the EU. Only two-thirds of the working age population is currently employed, compared to over 70% in the US and Japan. The employment rate of women and older workers are particularly low. Europe 2020 Strategy sets an employment target of 75% for men and women for 2020: ‘The employment rate of the population aged 20-64 should increase from the current 69% to at least 75%, including through the greater involvement of women, older workers and the better integration of migrants in the work force.’³

Policies which help parents to reconcile work, private and family life may actually stimulate both women’s participation in the labour market and fertility. Such policies may provide an additional channel to reduce the burden of financing a growing number of older people imposed on future generations. Increasing women’s labour force participation and fertility rates, and more recently the challenges of an ageing population resulted in family arrangements that have moved away from the traditional ‘male breadwinner/female carer’ model, in which men took primary responsibility for paid work and women performed unpaid care work, towards more equal roles. Recent European mandates (notably the Barcelona objectives) had the ambition to increase women and mother’s employment, have more children enrolled in childcare and reduce inequalities between social groups (e.g., single parents, men and women). At the core of these issues is the dilemma of how to ensure that an increase in female employment is compatible with family responsibilities.⁴

Combining paid employment with family responsibilities has its challenges. Long-standing social norms on the male breadwinner/female carer model play a role in perpetuating gender inequality in employment. There is the household-level gender inequality. Reconciliation policies are of particular relevance to the advancement in equal sharing of family responsibilities between women and men. Effective work–family measures also result in positive firm-level outcomes, including better performance and commitment, lower rates of absenteeism, higher levels of retention, skills preservation and healthier parents.⁵