Work & Family

While employment is generally positive for women and men, combining work and family can lead to experiences of work-family conflict, particularly for mothers of young children. However, many women, particularly women with older children and women without children at home, report that combining work and family is rewarding.

Policies, such as paid parental leave, can reduce the work-family conflict of parents with infants. Other policies, such as generous sick leave benefits that can be used to care for sick children and older relatives, or financial support for child care and elder care costs, can reduce work-family conflict. For these policies to make a difference, it is important that men also use them and that men are as involved in day-to-day family responsibilities as women.