Socio-economic challenges to work-life balance at times of crisis

Abstract

It is now well established that work life balance should not only be regarded as a fundamental employment right, but also as an important element for the achievement of other EU policies and is key to promote women’s activation in the labour market. For this purpose, European institutions (namely the Commission and the European Parliament) set about implanting a set of policies and legislative measures between the late 1990s and 2008. The onset of the sovereign debt crisis in 2008 and the associated austerity measures have posed a serious challenged to realisation of the Lisbon Agenda to establish a comprehensive framework for the reconciliation of work and family life. Crisis has provided an opportunity for ideologically driven cuts aimed at retrenching the Europe social model. The debates at the national and European level seemingly ignored the gendered nature of this policy shift, thus reasserting the centrality of hegemonic gender norms across Europe. This article seeks to assess the extent of the impact of the recession and of the austerity measure that were introduced as a mean to address the challenges of economic crisis on work life balance policies.