Work Time Regimes in Europe: Can Flexibility and Gender Equity Coexist?

Abstract

The regulation of working hours through legislation and collective bargaining became standard practice throughout Europe during the postwar period. This led to a stable workweek, generally forty hours or slightly higher. Yet many of the seemingly stable institutional arrangements of postwar capitalism-Keynesian stabilization policies and welfare state provisions, among others-have been unraveled through a series of neoliberal economic policies. A discourse of flexibility has bolstered a resurgence of market mechanisms, especially in labor markets. Flexible work hours are part of this larger trend in the global political economy (Bosch, Dawkins, and Michon 1993; ILO 1995; Figart and Golden 1998; Perrons 1998). The concept of a forty-hour norm is being replaced by the idea that work schedules should accommodate demand fluctuations and managerial strategies. The European Union (EU) has instituted policy initiatives to facilitate this shift toward flexible work in member countries. Specifically, the Council of the European Union adopted a directive concerning certain aspects of the organization of working time on November 23, 1993. The Working Time Directive establishes health and safety standards for working time: minimum periods of daily rest, weekly rest, annual leave, and breaks, as well as maximum weekly working time. One aspect of the directive is the annualization of hours. An employee's weekly hours must add up to a national standard