ABSTRACT
This paper explores the work–family conflict as perceived by working parents in two European countries, Spain and Great Britain (GB). Using data from the International Social Survey Programme, ISSP 2002, we examine the factors that explain the high level of conflict in the two countries, for both men and women. Whereas sex, age and having children at home impact the level of conflict in Spain, education level as a proxy for class is more relevant in the GB. The contrasting perceptions of the work–family conflict in the two countries may be taken as indicators of each country's stage in what has been called the ‘modernization process’. This study seeks to understand the relationship between the level of ‘modernization’ and the perception of a high level of conflict in the attempt to reconcile the work–family conflict, focusing on the process of ‘individualization’ on the one hand and measurement of ‘the perception of the level of conflict by sex’ on the other.1 The study argues that the difference between these high levels of conflict is explained by variables that refer to ascribed status in Spain (a pro-traditional model) but to acquired status in GB (a non-interventionist model) indicated by the influence of education level as a variable resulting from a person's effort.
1. Introduction
This study focuses on men and women of working age in Spain and Great Britain (GB).2 Building on the study by Lyonette et al. (2007), our goal is to analyse Spanish and British perceptions of the conflict involved in reconciling family and work life and to determine the factors that predispose Spanish and British people to experience a high level of work–family conflict. Understanding these phenomena will deepen our knowledge of the modernisation process.
Our analysis seeks to study perceptions of the conflict in Spain and the UK to determine each country's stage in the modernisation process. We start from two assumptions. First, modernisation involves a process of individualisation, as explained by Beck and Beck-Gernsheim (2002). We base our argument on the conception of individualisation (included in the theory of ‘Reflexive Modernization’ developed by Ulrich Beck), a conception that, in the words of Lash in the preface to Beck and Beck-Gernsheim (2003), has passed nearly unnoticed in Anglo-American Sociology and that we believe to be of great importance for understanding the behaviour of individuals in the twenty-first century. According to the authors cited, the process of individualisation indicates the phenomenon by which, as a society advances in the process of ‘modernization’, the factors or variables given by birth – such as age, sex and family origin – tend to exercise less influence on individuals’ behaviour, attitudes, and perceptions, while other factors that depend on personal effort tend to play a larger role in determining their behaviour, attitudes and perceptions. In contrast, traditional society generates specific expectations about its members’ behaviour based on their sex, age and family origin.
The second hypothesis leads us to assume that, as a society advances in the process of modernisation (measured using the concept of individualisation described earlier), it moves toward the decrease in or even disappearance of gender inequality. Specially, the present study takes the perception of the level of conflict as an indicator of gender inequality, such that a higher level of perceived conflict indicates greater gender inequality in the society. (In other words, high values for perception of the level of conflict in a society lead us to conclude that there is greater gender inequality in this society than in societies that score lower values.3 ) In countries that perceive a high level of conflict, individuals suffer because they cannot solve problems related to reconciliation. These countries are at a less advanced stage of the modernisation process than countries with little or no conflict. Therefore, the information that we obtain on different perceptions between the sexes concerning the high level of conflict will be interpreted as yet another indicator establishing the position of Spain and GB in the modernisation process. In more traditional societies, being a women means that one is in a less privileged situation.
In this kind of society, it is very clear that being a woman leads one to experience situations of less privilege. In more advanced societies, these differences tend to be less obvious. In this paper, we have used the indicator of level of conflict as a measure that enables us to approach the phenomenon of equality between the sexes in modern societies. The perception of a high level of conflict indicates that the person who experiences this conflict suffers the difficulty in attending to two essential aspects of his/her daily life (family and work) as well as he or she would like to. In an egalitarian society, one would expect men and women to perceive this phenomenon on equal levels, and in a society that is highly advanced in the modernisation process, one would expect there to be hardly any such conflict. Moreno Mínguez (2010) indicates that the theory of individualisation reveals its implications in individuals and families. We thus understand that the perception of the high level of conflict is useful for measuring the differences between men and women when they must harmonise work and family. The index of the perception of the high level of conflict helps to measure the degree of equality/inequality between the genders, as well as the position of the societies studied in the modernisation process.
The methodology consists of a GLM univariate analysis, which permits us to compare the perception of the high level of conflict in the UK and Spain based on sex and occupational status, and a discrete choice analysis, ordered probit, which enables us to determine the different factors that influence the perception of the high level of conflict in each country. These analyses are explained more fully in the methodology section.
Spain and the UK represent two of the four groups into which Gauthier4 (1996) classifies European countries. Gauthier's classification is consistent with the main goal of our study because its criteria are the characteristics and objectives of family policies developed in the different countries, factors with a significant influence on perception of the conflict in reconciling family and work life. For Gauthier, ‘pro-family/pro-natalist’ countries encourage families to have children principally by supporting women in reconciling work and family life, whereas pro-traditional countries focus on preserving the family, even if the government provides little aid to support this goal. Spain belongs to this second group. The third group of countries is composed of ‘pro-egalitarian’ countries, whose main goal is to promote gender equality. The fourth group follows a ‘non-interventionist’ model, whose main responsibility is care of families with the greatest need. In this model, families generally solve their problems of reconciliation and child-rearing with only minor intervention from the state. The UK belongs to this group.
The problem of achieving work–family balance affects primarily women 20–50 years old. Various studies document this conflict in Spain and the UK (Fernández Cordón 1999; Tobío 2005; Crompton 2006).
Women's participation in the labour market and the amount of time they dedicate to their work are closely linked to the number and ages of their children. López and Soto (2000) observe an inverted-U relationship between women's probability of participating in the labour market and their age, primarily among married women.
The employment rate is higher among individuals ages 25–49 without children under 6 years of age. This is the case for the EU27 as a whole as well as for the UK and Spain individually.
In all three cases (EU27, Spain and the UK), the employment rate for women ages 25–49 is lower when they have children under age 6 than when they have no children. The opposite occurs for men: the employment rate for men ages 25–49 is higher when they have children under age 6 than when they have no children (Table 1).
| . | Total . | Females . | Males . | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 . | No children . | Children<6 . | No children . | Children<6 . | No children . | Children<6 . |
| (25–49 years) Employment rate % | ||||||
| EU27 | 79.3 | 74.4 | 78.4 | 60.8 | 79.9 | 89.0 |
| Spain | 71.1 | 69.3 | 71.3 | 58.6 | 71.0 | 80.8 |
| UK | 82.9 | 75.1 | 83.9 | 61.5 | 82.1 | 90.2 |
| (25–49 years) Part-time employment rate % | ||||||
| EU27 | 12.1 | 19.3 | 19.1 | 39.1 | 7.0 | 4.7 |
| Spain | 10.5 | 14.6 | 16.3 | 30.0 | 6.2 | 2.8 |
| UK | 10.7 | 29.3 | 16.5 | 59.4 | 6.4 | 6.5 |
| . | Total . | Females . | Males . | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 . | No children . | Children<6 . | No children . | Children<6 . | No children . | Children<6 . |
| (25–49 years) Employment rate % | ||||||
| EU27 | 79.3 | 74.4 | 78.4 | 60.8 | 79.9 | 89.0 |
| Spain | 71.1 | 69.3 | 71.3 | 58.6 | 71.0 | 80.8 |
| UK | 82.9 | 75.1 | 83.9 | 61.5 | 82.1 | 90.2 |
| (25–49 years) Part-time employment rate % | ||||||
| EU27 | 12.1 | 19.3 | 19.1 | 39.1 | 7.0 | 4.7 |
| Spain | 10.5 | 14.6 | 16.3 | 30.0 | 6.2 | 2.8 |
| UK | 10.7 | 29.3 | 16.5 | 59.4 | 6.4 | 6.5 |
Source: European Labour Force Survey (ELFS 2010; EUROSTAT).
The part-time employment rate also provides interesting information about the different behaviour of individuals based on their sex and whether or not they have children under age 6. We see that the part-time employment rate for adults ages 25–49 is higher in the UK (than either the EU27 average or than in Spain). The part-time employment rate is always higher for women and proportionally higher when they have children under 6 years of age. In the case of the UK, the part-time employment rate for women 25–49 years of age with children under 6 is approximately 60% (double that in Spain) (EUROSTAT 2010). Further, 61.4% of women in the UK indicate that the need to care for children and adults with some disability is the main reason for their choice of part-time work. From this we conclude that they face this situation by using a strategy of choosing part-time work to enable better reconciliation between work and family, since the availability of part-time work on the labour market in the UK permits them to do so.
Significantly, qualification level influences women's rate of employment favourably: the more qualified women are, the less their employment rates decrease when they have more children. For less qualified women, in contrast, employment decreases more sharply as the number of children increases.
2. Antecedents and theoretical framework
Roehling et al. (2003) emphasise that the conflict5 in reconciling family and work life occurs as a direct result of incompatible tensions between the demands of individual work and family roles. Their study suggests that individuals suffer from feeling that they cannot attend to the demands of both family and work environment.
This study will analyse the perception of a high level of conflict as a social indicator of modernisation and gender inequality. It allows us to observe the level of modernisation in a society by analysing the factors that determine the high degree of conflict perceived by Spanish and British individuals concerning reconciliation of family life and work.
The concept of modernisation indicates the transformation of social structure and its effect on the life and behaviour of its members (Bernstein 1985; Giddens 1991). The phenomenon of modernisation can be understood as a process with two dimensions: increasing complexity of the social sphere (Durkheim 1893; Eisenstadt 1964; Treiman 1970; Smelser 1971) and growing independence of cultural and social issues (Beck and Beck-Gernsheim 2002; Gobernado 2002).
Increasing diversity of human interactions releases individuals from community ties. Classical sociologists identify these trends (Tönnies 1955 [1887]; Simmel 1984 [1908]; Durkheim 1987 [1893]), and Beck (2002) argues that social life has become a matter of choice. As diversification of human interaction reduces constraints on human choice, individuals become more independent. In a modern society, individuals’ behaviour tends to be less dependent on what the community imposes. In traditional societies, in contrast, tradition and custom carry great weight. For example, the community imposes specific roles on its members based on sex and establishes the choice of marriage partner at an early age; this and other choices are mediated by the group (family, clan … ). For members of the group, these decisions are not left up to individual choice. In other words, in traditional society, the community or, to use Durkheim's words, the collective consciousness has great weight in the individual (in his or her behaviour, thoughts, attitudes), whereas individual consciousness in modern societies has gained territory over collective and plays a greater role in determining individuals’ behaviour, attitudes and thoughts.
Our study introduces the dimension of modernisation to study variables that influence perception of a high level of conflict. We start from the assumption that, if ascriptive variables contribute to explaining this social phenomenon, a society analysed has not advanced much in the modernisation process described by Beck (2002). In such societies, a series of variables given at birth influence the way individuals perceive their situation. Individuals have not yet divested themselves of community bonds that impel their conduct, and the community is present in their behaviour (Tönnies 1955 [1887]). If, however, individuals’ behaviour depends on personal choice – that is, if the variables that influence this behaviour are acquired, e.g., through education or number of hours dedicated to work (both within and outside the home) – we have a society in which individual factors or individual choice acquire more importance in explaining behaviour than other socio-structural factors. We suggest that the latter type of society is at a more advanced stage in the modernisation process, since it is farther removed from community ties.
Second, we study the perception of a high level of conflict as an indicator of gender inequality (which in turn measures position in the modernisation process). Social categories such as sex should become weaker in more advanced societies, since the progress of modernisation parallels the progressive disappearance of inequality between the sexes. For Beck and Beck-Gernsheim (2002), in the course of a century and especially in the last two decades of the twentieth century, a few rapid changes took place in the context of women's lives that may be characterised generally as a shift from ‘live for others’ to ‘live a little life itself’.
In the modernisation process, women distance themselves from the ‘destination status’ that forced them to stay at home and rely on their husbands (Beck and Beck-Gernsheim 2002). However, the strained relationship between women's life projects and their limited possibilities for performing often generate insecurity (and here, the work–family conflict becomes significant). In sum, women's relation to different family members is changing. Women's lives are developing a strong ‘individualized drive’, and certain ‘ascribed’ roles are transformed into different ‘acquired’ ones, as Functionalist Theory explains. Women are entering a new field of action and decision with new opportunities, but they also encounter new uncertainties and conflicts. Women still bear many more responsibilities than men within the family and are much less protected in the labour market. These conditions generate numerous contradictions in women's lives, among others, the high level of work–family conflict analysed here.
3. Objectives and hypotheses
We propose two research questions. First, how is this conflict6 perceived in Spain and GB? To answer this question, we examine the levels of conflict in the two countries, using GLM univariate analyses (explained in section 4).
The second research question seeks to identify the factors that influence the perception of a high level of conflict in the two countries. With this question, we seek both to identify similarities and differences between these countries and to determine their position in the process of modernisation and gender equality. To achieve these goals, we develop a discrete choice analysis, ordered probit.
H1:Perception of work–family conflict is gendered; it is higher for women than for men, especially when children enter the family.
H2:Perception of the work–family conflict depends on age, stage in the life cycle and family formation, as well as the number and age of children.
H3:Perception of the work–family conflict depends on education level, which can be taken as a proxy for class and income.
H4:When the variables that contribute to explaining the perception of a high level of conflict are ascriptive, the society to which the individuals studied belong is at a lower level in the modernisation process than societies in which the variables that contribute to explaining this perception are acquired.
4. Methodology
To answer the questions posed earlier, we developed a ‘conflict index’, which combines four questions from the International Social Survey Programme, ISSP 2002 Family and Changing Gender Roles III, following the format used by Lyonette et al. (2007). (A range of measures of work–life conflict is available and has been used in previous research, and these measures are not always comparable.)
I have come home from work too tired to do the chores that need to be done (v.48)
It has been difficult for me to fulfil my family responsibilities because of the amount of time I spend on my job (v.49)
I have arrived at work too tired to function well because of the housework I have done (v.50)
I have found it difficult to concentrate at work because of my family responsibilities (v.51)
We develop two kinds of analysis. One is descriptive and compares differences, based on sex and class by country, in the level of conflict among members of the working population who are married or live with a partner (GB, n=747; Spain, n=567). We thus measure the variable ‘conflict’ on a scale of values from 0 to 12 (as explained earlier).
The other analysis is explanatory. We developed two ordered probit models, transforming the variable ‘conflict’. The 13 levels that composed the original ordinal scale are grouped into three categories (0 ‘very low’ or ‘low level of conflict’, 1 ‘medium’, 2 ‘high’). 0 indicates those who experience a low level of conflict (0–3 on the original scale); 1, an average level (4–6); and 2, a high level (7–12). The cut-off points between intervals are determined by the proportion of observations.7 This new division of categories enables us to develop the ordered probit model. Our samples here are small primarily because not all individuals interviewed responded to the variable ‘income’ (GB, n=533; Spain, n=495).
In the explanatory analysis, the ordered probit model (Table 3) for Spain is based on the sample initially chosen from the ISSP 2002, composed of Spanish men and women ages 15–64. Nine predictors were included in the two analyses. The model is highly significant (statistical significance of 1%) and predicts 50% of the cases well. The independent variables or predictors were defined as follows: sex: male (reference category), female; age: 15–25 (reference category), 26–36, 37–47, 48–64; composition of household: household without children (reference category), household with children; interviewee's income (continuous variable, in Euros); hours per week dedicated to domestic work (continuous variable); hours per week dedicated to work outside the home (continuous variable); education level8 : post-secondary vocational training and university (reference category), up to and including completion of secondary school.
| . | Men . | Women . | . | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| . | Profes . | Interm . | Manual . | Total . | Profes . | Interm . | Manual . | Total . | T M +TW . |
| GB | |||||||||
| N | 192 | 33 | 138 | 363 | 177 | 162 | 46 | 384 | 747 |
| Mean | 7.74 | 7.40 | 7.11 | 7.47 | 8.11 | 7.17 | 6.66 | 7.54 | 7.51 |
| SD | (2.14) | (2.11) | (2.42) | (2.26) | (2.47) | (2.12) | (2.27) | (2.36) | (2.31) |
| Spain | |||||||||
| N | 106 | 48 | 191 | 345 | 70 | 77 | 75 | 222 | 567 |
| Mean | 7.24 | 6.41 | 7.23 | 7.12 | 8.42 | 8.66 | 8.68 | 8.59 | 7.70 |
| SD | (2.34) | (2.59) | (2.61) | (2.54) | (3.2) | (3.13) | (3.13) | (3.13) | (2.87) |
| . | Men . | Women . | . | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| . | Profes . | Interm . | Manual . | Total . | Profes . | Interm . | Manual . | Total . | T M +TW . |
| GB | |||||||||
| N | 192 | 33 | 138 | 363 | 177 | 162 | 46 | 384 | 747 |
| Mean | 7.74 | 7.40 | 7.11 | 7.47 | 8.11 | 7.17 | 6.66 | 7.54 | 7.51 |
| SD | (2.14) | (2.11) | (2.42) | (2.26) | (2.47) | (2.12) | (2.27) | (2.36) | (2.31) |
| Spain | |||||||||
| N | 106 | 48 | 191 | 345 | 70 | 77 | 75 | 222 | 567 |
| Mean | 7.24 | 6.41 | 7.23 | 7.12 | 8.42 | 8.66 | 8.68 | 8.59 | 7.70 |
| SD | (2.34) | (2.59) | (2.61) | (2.54) | (3.2) | (3.13) | (3.13) | (3.13) | (2.87) |
Source: International Social Survey Family Programme (ISSP 2002). Developed by the authors.
There is a correlation between occupational class and perceived level of conflict F=10.807; p<0.001.
There is a correlation between occupational class and perceived level of conflict F=3.155; p<0.05. TM+TW=TM (Total Men)+TW (Total Women).
| Variables . | Coef. . | E. Marg. . |
|---|---|---|
| Spain | ||
| Sex: (reference men) | ||
| Woman | 0.5039*** | 0.1201 |
| Age: (reference 15–25) | ||
| 26–36 years | −0.3162 | −0.0685 |
| 37–47 years | −0.4043* | −0.0864 |
| 48–64 years | −0.5168** | −0.0998 |
| Composition of the household (ref. household without children) | ||
| Household with children | 0.2344** | 0.0526 |
| Interviewee's income | −0.000034 | −7.71e-06 |
| Hours per week dedicated to domestic work (numerical) | 0.1078** | 0.0024 |
| Hours per week dedicated to work outside the home | 0.0215*** | 0.0048 |
| Education level (ref. Vocational training and university study) | ||
| Up to completion of secondary school | −0.850 | −0.0199 |
| U1 | 0.5301 | |
| U2 | 1.9019 | |
| Number of observations: | 495 | |
| LR χ2 (9) | 56.22 | |
| Prob> χ2 | 0.0000 | |
| Pseudo R2 | 0.0556 | |
| % Correct predictions | 49% | |
| Variables . | Coef. . | E. Marg. . |
|---|---|---|
| Spain | ||
| Sex: (reference men) | ||
| Woman | 0.5039*** | 0.1201 |
| Age: (reference 15–25) | ||
| 26–36 years | −0.3162 | −0.0685 |
| 37–47 years | −0.4043* | −0.0864 |
| 48–64 years | −0.5168** | −0.0998 |
| Composition of the household (ref. household without children) | ||
| Household with children | 0.2344** | 0.0526 |
| Interviewee's income | −0.000034 | −7.71e-06 |
| Hours per week dedicated to domestic work (numerical) | 0.1078** | 0.0024 |
| Hours per week dedicated to work outside the home | 0.0215*** | 0.0048 |
| Education level (ref. Vocational training and university study) | ||
| Up to completion of secondary school | −0.850 | −0.0199 |
| U1 | 0.5301 | |
| U2 | 1.9019 | |
| Number of observations: | 495 | |
| LR χ2 (9) | 56.22 | |
| Prob> χ2 | 0.0000 | |
| Pseudo R2 | 0.0556 | |
| % Correct predictions | 49% | |
Source: Developed by the authors from data of the ISSP 2002, Family and Changing Gender Roles III.
Indicates statistical significance at 1%, **at 5%, *at 10%.
The population studied is men and women who work part- or full-time in Spain and GB. We use the population working in both modalities because reconciling work and family life can be a strong source of conflict even between people who work part-time (Lewis 2001; Liff and Ward 2001). It is essential to include this segment of the population due to the importance of part-time work in British society. The UK has the second highest rate of part-time work in the EU and ranks third in the OECD (2007). Women who work part-time in the UK usually hold low-status jobs. Tomlinson et al. (2009) suggest that this situation may lead to conflict.
Other researchers find that part-time work reduces the conflict generated by attempting to reconcile work and family (Fast and Frederick 1996; Higgins et al. 2000). Authors like Hakim (1996, 2000) emphasise that women who choose part-time work do so because they have qualitatively different lifestyle/sex role preferences than men and women working full-time, which shape their orientations to work and location in the labour market.
5. Descriptive analysis of the conflict in Spain and Great Britain
GLM univariate analyses for each country show no significant differences in conflict between sexes in GB (F=0.226; p<0.05). In Spain, however, there is a significant relation between level of perceived conflict and sex (F=35.337; p<0.001).
Women report higher-level conflict in the two countries analysed. Spanish women experience higher levels of conflict than British women, regardless of their occupational status. This difference increases as status decreases and is highest for Spanish women manual labourers, although differences in Spain are not significant for occupational status. For Tobío (2001, 2005), Spanish women with high social status have more economic resources and thus an easier time satisfying their domestic needs by hiring support on the market. In contrast, Spanish women manual workers must rely on informal help, such as relatives (especially grandparents, as Fernández Alonso 2012 shows) or fall into what is termed work overload (Tobío 2005).
British women exhibit a statistically significant difference between occupational class and level of conflict. British professional women feel more conflict, and their conflict level decreases as we descend the occupational scale. These data are consistent with the results of Lyonette et al. (2007). British professional women endure great demands from their work environment but, unlike Spanish women, encounter greater difficulty resolving their domestic needs through the labour market. (According to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE) 2009, Spain is the EU country with the highest percentage of workers in the domestic sector.) British professional women also have a long workday, which impacts their high perception of conflict directly. These professional women tend to work full-time more than British women who hold lower work positions (Tomlinson et al. 2009). Ortega Gaspar (2011) shows that British professional women constitute the occupational class that dedicates the most hours (an average of 44.52 hours) to paid work in GB. These women also work more hours outside the home than their Spanish counterparts (40.59 hours). As mentioned earlier, Spanish women at all levels of occupational status suffer from a higher level of conflict. This conflict may be explained by various factors, such as the rigid labour market, the small number of social policies9 addressing reconciliation before 200210 and the economic disadvantages of part-time work.
British men on average show a higher level of conflict (7.47) than Spanish men (7.12) (see Table 2). In GB, professional men tend to suffer from a higher level of conflict, as British men show a statistically significant difference between economic class and conflict level (F=12.157; p<0.001). Again, occupational status significantly influences the level of conflict between work and family in GB. As Ortega Gaspar (2011) confirms, British professionals also spend more time on paid work (on average, 46.2 hours weekly).
6. Factors that influence the high level of work–family conflict in Spain and Great Britain
Having children (Tables 3 and 4) in the home is a factor conditioning conflict in Spain (a relationship statistically significant at 5%), but not in GB, where the relationship is not statistically significant. Cantillon et al. (2001) show that the presence of children is a powerful generator of sexual differentiation in employment. In GB, the fact that having children does not determine perception of a high level of conflict could be explained by the country's high part-time employment rate. Another explanation is that it is not only having children that matters, but also the number and age of children. These factors may have a different impact on the level of the conflict in the two countries, but we cannot determine this from the analysis and methodology used in the paper.
| Variables . | Coef. . | E. Marg. . |
|---|---|---|
| Great Britain | ||
| Sex: (reference men) | ||
| Women | 0.1396 | 0.0208 |
| Age: (reference 15–25) | ||
| 26–36 years | 0.2164 | 0.0343 |
| 37–47 years | 0.1356 | 0.0208 |
| 48–64 years | 0.0061 | 0.0009 |
| Composition of the household (ref. household without children) | ||
| Household with children | 0.1641 | 0.2447 |
| Interviewee's income | −5.08e-07 | −7.60e-08 |
| Hours per week dedicated to domestic work (numerical) | 0.0205*** | 0.0030 |
| Hours per week dedicated to work outside the home | 0.0231*** | 0.0034 |
| Educational level (ref. vocational training or university study) | ||
| Up to completion of secondary school | −0.279** | −0.0464 |
| U1 | 0.7944 | |
| U2 | 2.5392 | |
| Number of observations: | 533 | |
| LR χ2 (9) | 48.32 | |
| Prob> χ2 | 0.0000 | |
| Pseudo R2 | 0.049 | |
| % Correct predictions | 56% | |
| Variables . | Coef. . | E. Marg. . |
|---|---|---|
| Great Britain | ||
| Sex: (reference men) | ||
| Women | 0.1396 | 0.0208 |
| Age: (reference 15–25) | ||
| 26–36 years | 0.2164 | 0.0343 |
| 37–47 years | 0.1356 | 0.0208 |
| 48–64 years | 0.0061 | 0.0009 |
| Composition of the household (ref. household without children) | ||
| Household with children | 0.1641 | 0.2447 |
| Interviewee's income | −5.08e-07 | −7.60e-08 |
| Hours per week dedicated to domestic work (numerical) | 0.0205*** | 0.0030 |
| Hours per week dedicated to work outside the home | 0.0231*** | 0.0034 |
| Educational level (ref. vocational training or university study) | ||
| Up to completion of secondary school | −0.279** | −0.0464 |
| U1 | 0.7944 | |
| U2 | 2.5392 | |
| Number of observations: | 533 | |
| LR χ2 (9) | 48.32 | |
| Prob> χ2 | 0.0000 | |
| Pseudo R2 | 0.049 | |
| % Correct predictions | 56% | |
Source: Developed by the authors with data from the ISSP 2002, Family and Changing Gender Roles III.
Indicates statistical significance at 1%, **at 5%, *at 10%.
Our study shows that Spaniards who live in a home with children have a 5.26% greater probability of experiencing a high level of conflict than those in households without children. Morgan (2006) refers to the social consequences of delaying birth of children and/or reducing number of children per woman, that emerge in very conservative countries like Germany, Italy, Spain and Japan as a result of the difficult choice between paid work and family.
The negative effects of motherhood on women's employment are not new (Arenas 2003). According to Obeso (2006), marriage and having children continue to harm women's activity on the labour market. Del Campo and Rodríguez Brioso (2002) confirm that responsibility for children under the age of 6 is what most jeopardises Spanish women's work careers. Our results must thus be understood in a context where women are still assigned the cost and responsibility of work–life balance (Meil 2006).
Given these data, it is even more interesting that the UK has managed better than Spain to negotiate this labour barrier and the conflicts it generates. This difference may be explained, among other reasons, by the wider range of opportunities the UK provides due to more extensive labour market offerings (greater availability of part-time work). The data mentioned earlier on employment rate for women ages 25–49 with children under 6 reinforce this contrast, as this rate is higher in the UK (66.2%) than in Spain (62.3%), according to data from the European Labour Force Survey (ELFS) 2008 (EUROSTAT).
The characteristics of the Spanish labour market contribute to the development of private family strategies crucial to the ability to reconcile work and family. Among these strategies is reduction in family size, decision to have fewer children and even the decision not to have children. Spain's fertility rate is 1.3 (2003 and 2009) and Great Britain's 1.7 (2003) and 1.9 (2009) (EUROSTAT).
According to the Annual Report on Equality of Opportunities in the European Union in 2002, the main causes of unemployment in the populations 15–64 years of age were personal or family responsibilities. As the number of children increases, so does the occupational difference between men and women.11
In Spain, sex is a factor that determines whether one experiences a high level of conflict (the relationship is significant at 1%, Table 3). Spanish women have a 12% higher probability than men of experiencing a high level of conflict. We thus accept Hypothesis 1 (the high level of conflict is a question of gender) for Spain but reject it for GB.
The analysis shows that, in Spain, the higher one's age, the lower the probability that one will suffer from intense conflict in attempting to reconcile work and family. Further, the age group most likely to suffer this conflict (ages 26–36) does not show a statistically significant relationship on this issue. This leads us to affirm that not only age determines whether one will suffer from this conflict but also one's stage in the life cycle. However, the limitations of the data used in this study prevent us from confirming the influence of both stages in the life cycle and number and age of children. The phenomenon could also be explained by the trend towards diversification of strategies to resolve this situation (e.g., delaying the age of marriage, not having children, delaying the first child, relying on family support or even suspending work outside the home).
In Spain, we confirm that individuals 48–64 years of age are almost 10% less likely than those between 15 and 2512 to experience a high level of conflict. Further, the 37–4713 age group is 8.64% less likely to experience a high level of conflict than members of the youngest group. This seems logical, since the oldest members of the population think less about the demands and incompatibilities of the two areas of life analysed here. In GB, age is not a determining factor of conflict. This may be due, among other reasons, to the greater availability of part-time work. As indicated earlier, time flexibility in work can both ease and intensify work–family conflicts. The results of this study follow the lines of arguments by Fast and Frederick (1996) and Higgins et al. (2000), among others, who find that working part-time reduces the conflict. Another possible explanation is that people's behaviour in GB is less dependent on the country's structure and social system.
Another important difference is the fact that the educational level in GB is a significant determinant of conflict (the relationship is statistically significant at 5%). Education level influences the high level of conflict, but in the direction opposite to our expectations. In other words, subjects with education levels lower than vocational and university training are 4.64% less likely to suffer a high degree of conflict than those who have reached the highest education level (Table 4). British individuals with the highest education level tend to suffer a higher degree of conflict in attempting to reconcile work and family (we reject H3 for the case of the GB). We expected a higher level of education to lead to higher income and increase the possibility of hiring external aid to satisfy domestic needs. However, the foregoing analysis (Table 2) shows that women with a higher level of education as a proxy for class and income in the UK experience the highest level of conflict. Lyonette et al. (2007) also observe this situation. One possible explanation may be the idea suggested by Beck (2002) that British society is still closely tied to class. High-status workers feel more social pressure in all areas of their life because among other reasons, the conflict is not a question of money but also a question of time (Lewis et al. 2008). A study by Ortega Gaspar (2011) provides another possible explanation. This study observes that British professional women (those with high education levels) compose the group that dedicates the highest proportion of its time to extradomestic work (another important determinant of high level of conflict).
In Spain, the relationship between the level of conflict and occupational class is not significant. Hypothesis 3 is thus not fulfilled for the case of Spain. We repeat that perception of a high level of conflict in Spain is a question of sex, age and having children, but not of education level.
If we turn to the similarities between the two countries, individuals who devote more hours to work both outside and inside the home feel the highest degree of conflict. It is logical that, if one or both of these workloads is greater, people feel overwhelmed and tend to experience high levels of conflict in harmonising their lives.
In GB, as in Spain, distribution of time is a crucial factor determining conflict. Lyonette et al. (2007) observe the highest level of conflict among British professional women (who dedicate the most time to work outside the home). In Spain, the women with the highest level of conflict are the manual labourers, although the relationship is not significant.
7. Conclusions and discussion
The results obtained stem from two kinds of analysis. First, the GLM analysis permits us to observe that the level of conflict is higher in Spain (7.70) than in GB (7.51).
The conflict experienced when facing the difficulties of reconciling family and work is a social phenomenon that affects more women than men in both countries. Only in the case of Spain, however, is the relationship between conflict level and sex (a demographic variable given by birth) significant.
In GB, in contrast, we find a statistically significant relationship between occupational class (a variable that corresponds to each person's effort) and conflict level. That is, in GB, the level of conflict increases for both men and women as they ascend the social ladder.
Second, the explanatory, ordered probit analyses help to confirm the relationship indicated earlier and enable us to nuance our understanding of the factors explaining perception of the high level of conflict in both countries. These analyses also confirm the differences between the two countries. The results show that sex is an explanatory factor in the high level of conflict in Spain but not in GB. They also reinforce the idea that education level (taken as a proxy for class and income) is an explanatory factor in GB but not in Spain. Finally, age is another factor that explains perception of conflict in Spain but not GB. Older individuals show less probability of experiencing high-level of conflict in Spain.
Another difference we find is that having children in the home influences the perception of a high level of conflict for Spaniards but not for the British. In the case of GB, this result may be related to the widespread availability of part-time work (which helps to harmonise these two areas of life) and to the fact that not only having children but also age and number of children plays an important role. Due to the limitations of the ISSP 2002, our analysis was not able to consider these situations, which we believe may include other factors influencing the perception of a high level of conflict. Specifically, Spain's labour market has contributed to the development of a series of strategies on the private level, such as reduction of family size and decision to have fewer children or even not to have children. Institutional support may also influence this issue. Due to the limitations of this study, we cannot confirm the level of impact that the different kinds of government aid may have. Still, we must note that the cultural and institutional context in which we have interpreted the data includes few family policies on issues of reconciliation. The data were gathered at the start of the twenty-first century, and the first government measures of reconciliation appeared in 1996, a time at which the traditional family still predominated. In the UK at this time, the situation regarding material on family policies had significant deficiencies. Before 1997, we find no legislative model of reconciliation, and these questions are assumed to be the responsibility of the family. The British model is distinguished by the different kinds of contracts for men and women (long workdays for men and short workdays for women), and the most significant changes in the UK on the level of legislation (concerning measures oriented to reconciling work and family, that is, measures involving both fiscal benefits for parents and flexibility in time dedicated to work, or parental leaves, … ) were established after 2002 (in January 2002, parental leave was extended from 13 to 18 weeks; in January 2003, a white paper was published describing the measures being taken to address the issue of ‘balancing work and family life’; The Working Tax Credit 2003; The Work and Families Act 2006) a period of time outside the timeframe of this study.
As to the similarities found, we confirm that time dedicated to work outside and inside the home conditions the high level of conflict in both countries.
Among the limitations of this study, it is important to note that both contexts analysed have undergone various changes on an institutional level since we gathered the data used in this analysis. However, because the data were analysed in the context of the minimal development of reconciliation policies mentioned earlier, omitting institutional support in the analyses here is not of great significance.
Among other limitations, we recognise the omission of some variables that might impact the perception of a high level of conflict, e.g., share of parental and family work or working conditions. Another limitation lies in the formulation of the survey questions, which do not allow us to track the two extreme forms of work–family conflict, leaving the labour market and deciding not to have children or form a family. Spain and GB differ considerably in these two extreme forms of responding to the work–family conflict.
We proposed to study the perception of the high level of conflict as a social indicator of modernisation and gender inequality. The fact that women perceive a higher level of conflict leads us to believe that the difficulties they encounter in reconciling work and family diminish their capacity for self-realisation, independence and freedom. Our results contribute to comparing the modernisation process in Spain and GB. Our proposal is innovative in the field and invites study of this area in greater depth, based on knowledge from studies of the modernisation process.
Modernisation involves a process of individualisation in which individuals’ behaviour ceases to be conditioned by variables given at birth (sex, family origin, age, etc.). Variables that correspond to personal choice (personal effort, education) begin to have more predictive capability. We confirm that variables given by birth (sex, age) are among the factors that help to explain perception of a high level of conflict in Spain. This is not the case in GB, however, where our analysis indicates this perception is determined by acquired variables, that is, variables subject to individual choice (e.g., educational level, hours dedicated to paid and domestic labour). From these results one can conclude that GB has advanced more than Spain in the modernisation process.
Nevertheless, our analysis of the second idea, perception of a high level of conflict as an indicator of gender equality, shows that both countries perceive a high level of conflict but that this perception is weaker in the UK than in Spain. We thus advance the thesis that, the greater the level of conflict perceived, the greater the gender inequality to be expected and, likewise, the smaller the advance in the modernisation process of the country in question (Spain). In more traditional societies, being a women means that one is in a less privileged situation. The fact that women perceive a higher level of conflict leads us to believe that the difficulties they encounter in reconciling work and family diminish their capacity for self-realisation, independence and freedom.
The results enable continued advance in the study of social change and the modernisation process. Analysing these processes enables comparison of the data from this period with data from the new decade14 in which we now find ourselves.
Acknowledgements
I wish to thank my colleges Rosemary Crompton, Clare Lyonette, Mercedes Fernández, Rafael Gobernado, Francisco Sánchez Benedito and Carlos Gamero for their valuable suggestions on this paper. I wish to also thank the editor and reviewers that contributed to improve the last version of this article. This research was funded by: The Ministry of Employment and Social Affairs (FIPROS 62/2006) and The Ministry of Science and Innovation (PSI 2009-01937).
Footnotes
Individualization: process by which people come to take responsibility for their identity. It consists in transforming human ‘identity’ from a ‘given’ into a ‘task’ – and charging the actors with the responsibility for that task and for the consequences (also the side effects) of their performance (Beck and Beck-Gernsheim 2002).
The text refers alternately to the United Kingdom (UK) and Great Britain (GB) because the ISSP 2002 refers to GB but some other data were only available for the UK.
A low level of conflict signifies equality, as confirmed among countries belonging to social democratic regimes.
Esping-Andersen (1990) provides an alternate classification to that of Gauthier (1996). The latter is recommended for studies of women's situation in society. Kamerman (2000) argues that a solid social policy covering institutions that attend to citizens and their children's needs has a direct effect in strengthening the labour market and specifically influences improvement in women's position on it.
Hereafter, ‘conflict’ indicates the conflict involved in harmonising work and family life.
The following section explains in greater detail how we have measured these.
There are few observations from the highest levels of conflict in the initial gradation. We conclude that people know and feel that they suffer conflict but that the conflict is more complex if people are in an extreme situation. Gamero (2007) proceeds similarly in studying job satisfaction and kinds of contract in Spain.
Given the complexity of comparing this variable across countries, we used variable v205, ‘R: Education II, highest education level’, to facilitate comparison. This variable provides information that has been consolidated for the countries considered here.
Reconciliation policies in Spain begin in 1996, with the agreement to develop the Integral Family Support Plan. Among the measures for reconciliation, we find the Law for Work-Family Balance 39/1999). This law includes the main proposal of the European directive (Council Directive 96/34/CE), which establishes the parental licence as an instrument for reconciling professional and family life and for promoting equal opportunity and treatment of men and women; the Organic Law of Equality between Women and Men (2007); the Law for the Promotion of Personal Autonomy and Attention to Dependency (2006); and the Organic Law of Education 2/2006. For a long time, the UK ranked among the last European countries in development of family policies. Before 1997, no model for work-family balance existed, and responsibility for care was considered a family matter. Starting in 1997, the government began to intervene in promoting work–family balance. Since then, the UK has developed a Family Policy that has increased substantially the expenditure on initiatives for care of minors and support for employees. The British model, distinguished for its long workdays for men and short workdays for women, has been resolving conflict through petitions instead of through the legal system. The Labour Party has promoted job flexibility. By 2004, the Government seemed to have settled on making provision for the parental care of children during the first year and investing in childcare to facilitate (women's) labour-market participation and children's early learning once children reach age three. The Law of 2006 is based on equal treatment, but in practice it leads to women assuming care tasks and abandoning or decreasing their activity on the labour market. The work–family balance continues to be a topic of purely private choice.
As the data in this analysis were taken from a 2002 survey and thus gathered about 10 years ago, we assume that changes have occurred since then, due among other reasons to legislative reform.
The report cited shows that women in Spain begin to have children on average around age 31, when their labour activity is greatest (of women 25–34 years of age, six of every 10 women work).
One could conclude that the conflict is expressed in delaying the age of marriage and having children, among other behavioural patterns among the young population today. In Spain, the average age for having one's first child is 31 (Instituto Nacional de Estadística, INE 2010).
By this age, people have probably organised the work- and family-related aspects of their lives.
While the effects of the economic crisis in Spain and GB on this conflict are interesting, a discussion of this topic is beyond the scope of the article.
References
Marta Ortega Gaspar is Professor of Sociology at the University of Malaga, Spain. She was recognised with the Extraordinary Economy Faculty PhD Award and the Honorific Mention ‘European Doctorate’ of Málaga University in 2008. She is specialised in family issues, comparative research on gender and care; and family policies. She has taken part in several National Projects about gender and care; social networks and social support. She was visiting researcher at City London University (2007) and at the Population and Ageing Institute (University of Oxford, UK, 2013). Her present research focuses on elderly and New Technologies; the crisis and the work–life balance. Her latest book is Los cuidados de los hijos y el género (2011).