Gendered Effects of Home-Based Work on Parents\u2019 Capability to Balance Work with Non-work: Two Countries with Different Models of Division of Labour Compared

Anna Kurowska

doi:10.1007/s11205-018-2034-9

Abstract

This paper explores gendered impact of home-based work (HBW) on the capability to balance work with non-work in double-earner families with dependent children in two countries with distinct models of division of labour: Poland and Sweden. At first, I critically engage with the WLB conceptualization in HBW studies and try to address identified gaps. Driving from the theoretical concept of ‘burden of responsibilities’ and setting it in the capability approach, I propose to operationalize the capability to balance work with non-work as a latent construct, observed through two indicators of the burden of unpaid work responsibilities related to one’s engagement in paid work. To simultaneously measure this capability as a latent construct and the impact of HBW on this capability, I estimate a simple structural equation model for each country. The results show that men in both countries have higher capabilities to balance work with non-work than women, but the difference between genders is smaller in Sweden. I also find that HBW is related to lower capability to balance work with non-work for mothers in both countries and for fathers in Sweden only. The results of this study show that in a relatively gender equal society (Sweden) the negative impact of home based work on the capability to balance work with non-work affects both genders. On the contrary—in a more traditional society (Poland), men are able to ‘escape’ the trap of double burden of paid and unpaid work when working from home while women do not.

Highlights

In recent years there has been renewed interest in the concept of home-based work, with its potential to offer workplace flexibility (Powell and Craig 2015)
This means that mothers in both countries, and fathers only in Sweden, who work from home at least part of the week, are on average less able to balance work with non-work relative to mothers/fathers working outside the home
This study has contributed to the literature in two ways. It argues that gender sensitive work–life balance (WLB) measurement should account for one’s engagement in paid work, and one’s burden of housework and childcare responsibilities, i.e. the total burden of ‘necessary work’ (Ransome 2007)

Summary

Introduction

In recent years there has been renewed interest in the concept of home-based work, with its potential to offer workplace flexibility (Powell and Craig 2015). There are numerous definitions of home-based work While home-based work is sometimes used as a synonym for telework, the latter term is broader, relating as it does to “working from anywhere”, and not necessarily from home (see Morganson et al 2009; Kurland and Bailey 1999; Hislop and Axtell 2007). Some authors use home-based work as a synonym for un-paid (non-market) work at home (see Craig and Sawrikar 2009). Since this may confuse readers, I have not used this terminology in this article

Methods

Results

Conclusion