Presented by Barbara Mataloni
Authors: Barbara Mataloni
Abstract
Across advanced economies demands for flexibility in work and reduced working hours, such as the four-day working week, are increasing in order for individuals to have more time for family and leisure. While in the ‘work-life balance’ literature considerable attention is devoted to the allocation of time to paid work and care work, the role of leisure is not systematically analysed. Against this background, I am currently working on a postdoc project proposal that seeks to fill this gap. The aim is to analyse gender differences in leisure especially after family formation across social classes and types of profession in four EU member states in a comparative perspective. The country cases for the empirical study are Austria, Denmark, Spain and Poland. The countries are selected following a most different systems design logic that considers the gendered work-life combinations characterising them. This presentation gives insights into the overall project idea as well as the specific work packages, which focus on (1) leisure and feelings of recognition, (2) the quality of leisure, (3) the timing of leisure, and (4) the role of leisure for the concept of ‘work-life balance’. In addition, the presentation will address synergies with the ‘AGILE work-life balance’ project based at Copenhagen Business School.