The connection between working hours and work-to-family conflict has been established in a number of studies. However, it seems what is important is not only the quantity of work but also its quality, as captured by the job demand-control model. Survey data from 800 Swedish employees show that job demands spill over negatively into family life, while job control reduces work-to-family conflict. Interestingly, women in jobs with high demands and high control -regarded as the prototype for modern, flexible work life -do not experience more work-to-family conflict than men, even when working the same hours.

The aim of this article is to deepen the understanding of work—family conflict and the impact of social policies by integrating the theoretical perspectives of role conflict and role expansion. First, we present a theoretical model identifying different mechanisms through which policy may affect both role conflict and role expansion, with a particular focus on dual-earner policies. Second, we examine some of its implications, using data from the European Social Survey comprising 10,950 employees in 15 countries. In contrast to traditional theories presenting conflict and expansion as mutually exclusive, we find that work—family conflict and experiences of role expansion, measured with indicators of life satisfaction and psychological well being, may go hand in hand. The results also indicate that such a balance is more common in countries with dual-earner policies than in other countries. Women committing as strongly to work as men experience more work—family conflict, but also high levels of well being and satisfaction. The findings largely support our theoretical arguments and imply that future research should examine the conflict-expansion nexus rather than focussing on either of the two. In this context, both gender and policy need to be considered.

In current research, the extensive family policies of the Scandinavian countries have been problematized and described as hampering women's careers. However, mechanisms have been little investigated and the Scandinavian countries are often regarded as a single policy model. Based on an account of institutional variety we study gender gaps in hourly wages and access to authority positions in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden and explore the importance of segregation, skills and work interruptions. The analysis uses pooled cross-sectional data from the European Social Survey (ESS) for 2004 and 2010. The results show that gender gaps vary both in size and regarding the mechanisms producing them. In particular, we find that gender segregation has a radically different impact in the four countries. The analysis suggests that the mechanisms linking family policies to labour market outcomes are more complex than envisaged in the current debate and point to the importance of comparing seemingly similar countries.

No abstract

The aim of this paper is to investigate whether women in a dualearner context acquire family-friendly jobs as a strategy to keep work-family conflict down. The analysis is based on a survey of newly graduated highly educated men and women in five occupations in Sweden (n ≈ 2400). The sample was stratified by occupation and gender to minimize the influence of factors other than gender. The results show that women are more familyoriented, but also more career-oriented than men in their professional strategies. In their jobs, women have less control over work and schedules than men but a similar level of work demands. However, women face lower requirements for employer flexibility (e.g. frequent over time) and this is related to their professional strategies. Finally, women report a higher level of work-family conflict than men in the same occupation, but this gender difference becomes non-significant when accounting for women's lower level of control. In sum, women in this sample clearly aim for both family and career and do not acquire family-friendly jobs, but aim to avoid 'family-unfriendly' requirements for constant availability. To some extent, this enables them to limit their workfamily conflict but due to their lower control over work, women still experience more conflict than men in the same occupation. RÉSUMÉ L'objectif de cet article est d'étudier si les femmes dans un contexte à double revenu acquièrent des emplois favorables à la famille en tant que stratégie visant à réduire le conflit travail-famille. L'analyse est basée sur un sondage auprès d'hommes et de femmes nouvellement diplômés et hautement qualifiés dans cinq professions en Suède (n ≈ 2400). L'échantillon a été stratifié par profession et par sexe afin de minimiser l'influence de facteurs autres que le genre. Les résultats montrent que les femmes sont plus orientées vers la famille, mais aussi plus orientées sur la carrière que les hommes dans leurs stratégies professionnelles. ARTICLE HISTORY

No abstract

This article explores mechanisms linking family policy to work–family conflict, work demands and gender. The conflict construct has dominated survey-based work–family research; however, both the individual actor and the societal context have been conspicuously absent. In qualitative interviews, including established instruments of work–family conflict, we studied how perceptions of work–family conflict were linked to strategies and use of policy entitlements among working parents in Sweden and Slovenia, two countries with policies promoting the dual-earner family. Our findings imply that such policies contribute to ‘have-it-all’ aspirations, but collide with practical realities, including norms related to work, parenthood and gender. In Sweden, policy tools and work demands appeared more decisive, especially for women’s conflict, whereas in Slovenia, informal care by extended family was important. Based on the analysis, we propose a typology of strategies and perceived conflict that can help develop research on work–family conflict, especially from a comparative perspective.

No abstract