Striving to achieve it all: men and work-family-life balance in Sweden and the UK

Abstract

Although there is a vast literature on issues of work-life balance, most of the research is grounded on the traditional view of work-life balance as a female-oriented entitlement. So far little attention has been paid to how men balance their work-life situations, especially the 'new men' who are keen to share the family care. We contribute to filling this gap by critically examining how male academics in construction-related departments at universities in Sweden and the UK construct their relationships with family and work. Narrative analysis was applied on in-depth interviews with seven academics from each country, who were at different phases in their careers. Three core narratives emerged from the data: family connected with partner; work as key priority; and desire to pursue personal projects, all of which competed for the narrators' sparse time. The narrative that by far received most space and most storylines in all the interviews was 'work as priority', implying that in spite of gender equality policies and campaigns, work-life balance remains a female-oriented concern. Both Swedish and British men in our sample found juggling family and life most challenging. This work-family-life triad left many feeling that they had no time to do a good job in any sphere and in Sweden in particular combination pressure was intense. Curiously, despite these tensions and increasing demands for many of our respondents work remains a positive construct, possibly because of the strong conceptual identification of 'self' as an academic.

The mediating effect of work–life balance on the relationship between work–family conflict and life satisfaction

“…This finding can be explained by the fact that today work–life issues are equally important for both genders in Turkey. According to Raiden and Raisanen (2013), women and men equally experience work–home interference because of more common contribution to the financial well-being and the care at home. Consequently, lack of work–life balance is a problem for men as well as for women (Emslie & Hunt, 2009).…”

“…Current societal and regulatory initiatives are aimed at encouraging men to actively engage in sharing the caring routines and the housework. Thus, new labels for men such as “new men”, “involved fathers”, and “working fathers” have emerged (Raiden & Raisanen, 2013). Consequently, it is important today to examine the work–life balance of both genders (Darcy et al., 2012; Emslie & Hunt, 2009).…”

Flexible Work Arrangements and Work–Family Conflict: A Metasynthesis of Qualitative Studies Among Academics

“…Many studies showed that the flexible nature of the academic job was advantageous to family life and to parenting (e.g., Nikunen, 2012; Toffoletti & Starr, 2016). This flexibility allowed academics to spend time with their children (e.g., Eddy & Gaston-Gayles, 2008; Sallee & Pascale, 2012), to take their children to school and support their activities (e.g., Perrakis & Martinez, 2012; Raiden & Räisänen, 2013), and to attend to their sick children (e.g., Damiano-Teixeira, 2006; Rafnsdóttir & Heijstra, 2013; Sallee & Pascale, 2012; Weigt & Solomon, 2008).…”

“…Among the manifestations of the academics’ WFC were unusually long and late-night work hours—including weekends and holidays (e.g., Hall, Anderson, & Willingham, 2004; Raiden & Räisänen, 2013; Solomon, 2011; Takahashi et al, 2014), a lack of sleep (e.g., Damiano-Teixeira, 2006), the inability to disengage from work when they wished to do so (e.g., Santos, 2014), feeling guilty about failing to fulfill both personal and professional responsibilities (e.g., Sallee, Ward, & Wolf-Wendel, 2016); and mental absence when at home (e.g., Reddick et al, 2012; Takahashi et al, 2014). Such conflict could be partially attributed to the demanding nature of the academic job that will be discussed later in the findings.…”

The Use and Misuse of 'Gender' and 'Sex' Terminologies in Civil Engineering Literature

“…"Likewise more research is needed to examine why the structure of the profession is so much more gender-balanced in Eastern Europe and whether any areas of 'good practice' can be adopted." Striving to achieve it all: men and work-family-life balance in Sweden and the UK 24 CME 2013 "So far little attention has been paid to how men balance their work-life situations, especially the 'new men' who are keen to share the family care." they enter male-dominated work, little research has discussed how sexual minorities-and particular lesbians-fare in such environments."…”