Many countries in Europe have experienced fertility below replacement level for a long period of time. Population ageing and difficulties in sustaining current living standards follow low fertility levels. To be able to increase fertility levels it is necessary to give women and men in Europe opportunities to fulfil their desired life, with or without children. Work-family reconciliation policies can either prevent people from or allow them to combine a career and a family. To what extent these policies have an influence on short-term childbearing intentions in Poland and Sweden is the focus of this study. Using data from the Gender and Generation Survey, the results show that women in Poland are more likely to intend to have a first child within the next three years than are women in Sweden, despite less favourable work-family reconciliation policies, while childless men in Poland are less likely to intend to have a child in the near future than are men in Sweden. It also shows that the attitudes towards parental leave policies have an effect on first childbearing intentions, but that attitudes towards childcare systems play a minor role when intending to become a parent or not in the near future. Common to the work-family reconciliation policies is that the attitudes towards them are contextually embedded.

This research examines the impact of work-family reconciliation policies on gender inequality in the labour market, and on the division of paid work and care in the household. Policies designed to help families meet their work and care responsibilities have undergone considerable reform over the last fifteen years. The research aims to understand how this has affected the way that earning and caring are divided between mothers and fathers, and the implications of this for mothers’ labour market outcomes. The research compares two cohorts; the National Child Development Study (NCDS) tracks individuals born in 1958, and the British Cohort Study (BCS) those born in 1970. These cohorts experienced the key childbearing years of their early thirties on either side of a fairly sharp discontinuity in work-family reconciliation policy. The research aims to link this difference in policy environments to differences the way that couples in each cohort divide paid work and care, and in the labour market behaviour of mothers and the penalties they face when they are in employment. Logistic regression models are employed to quantify the magnitude and significance of the impact of cohort membership on the work and care outcomes of interest, controlling for other variables that affect these outcomes. Some case-level analysis of the data is also carried out; individuals representing typical family arrangements are highlighted, to demonstrate the relevance of the theoretical model and assist with hypothesis generation. Case stories illustrate the interplay of individual circumstances with policy and other external factors, in a way that is difficult to achieve using statistical methods. A key finding is that the younger cohort is less likely to report equal sharing of childcare than the older cohort, even after controlling for other factors that might influence the division of labour. This is also in spite of the finding that mothers in the younger cohort are more likely to be in work. This suggests progress to some extent, in that mothers perhaps find it easier to be in employment. However at the same time it represents a regressive step at the household level, as they not only continue to shoulder the majority of the care work, but are even more inclined to do so. Analysis of pay and status gaps also yields interesting results. The findings suggest that the penalty to motherhood in terms of labour market status accrues by virtue of the interrupted human capital accumulation that results from periods out of the labour market or working part time. However, the motherhood penalty in pay persists even after controlling for other wage determinants, suggesting that these gaps are a direct result of motherhood itself and not of the labour market behaviour changes that occur as a result. The research contributes theoretically and substantively to the wider literature on this topic. It brings together human capital perspectives with theories of gender, power and resources, and of the impact of policy on family life, and uses Amartya Sen’s capability approach to reconcile and move forward these ideas. It also contributes to the practical understanding of the impact of policy on the way that families reconcile work and care, and in particular the implications of policy for gender equality. Finally, its methodological contribution is in the use of a narrative approach to large-scale quantitative data, alongside more conventional statistical techniques, in order to further exploit the detailed, longitudinal data available.

A partir de l'étude des interactions quotidiennes entre Katangais et Kasaïens, après les violences de masse perpétrées contre les Kasaïens « non originaires» au début des années 1990, la thèse montre que les Katangais et les Kasaïens mettent en œuvre, dans le cadre de leurs interactions en face-à-face (Goffman), des pratiques de coexistence fondées sur l'évitement, le silence et les non-dits. Le silence sur les violences passées et l'évitement des sujets politiques interprétables en fonction du conflit entre les deux communautés constituent en fait une norme interactionnelle de coexistence pacifique, à rebours de l'injonction au dialogue et à la compréhension mutuelle, qui est au cœur des pratiques des ONG de pacification « par le bas». La thèse montre également que dans certains contextes politiques ou socio-économiques macros constituant des situations de crise (Dobry ; Vidal), se produit un phénomène de polarisation des identités collectives : les Katangais et les Kasaïens ne sont alors plus perçus que par rapport à leur origine ethno-régionale. L'anticipation du déroulement des situations d'interaction devient plus difficile, du fait de I' « incertitude structurelle» qui caractérise ces situations de crise; et les pratiques routinisées de coexistence fondées sur l'autocensure et l'évitement tendent à diminuer. A partir de ces conclusions, la thèse interroge les injonctions morales à la réconciliation et au dialogue, qui sont à l'œuvre dans les théories et pratiques de pacification «par le bas», et la possibilité même d'une réconciliation «par le bas», diffusant de proche en proche une « culture de la paix » qui finirait par imprégner toute une société. / Based on the study of daily interactions between Katangese and Kasaians, in the aftermath of the mass violence committed against the non-native Kasaians in the early 1990s, the dissertation shows that in their face-to-face interactions (Goffman), Katangese and Kasaians used practices of coexistence based on avoidance, silence, and self-censorship. Silence on the past violence and on political topics that can be interpreted with regard to the conflict between the two communities has indeed became an interactional norm of peaceful coexistence, unlike the injunction of NGOs specialized in the 'bottom-up' pacification to set up a dialogue that is deemed to foster a mutual understanding. The dissertation also shows that specific political or socio-economic contexts lead to 'crisis situations' (Dobry; Vidal). These crisis situations result in the polarization of collective identities: Katangese and Kasaians are viewed only by their ethno-regional origins. The expectations about interaction situations are made more difficult, because of the “structural uncertainty” that characterizes 'crisis situations'; and the routine practices of coexistence based on self-censorship and avoidance tend to disappear. From these findings, the dissertation questions the moral injunctions in favor of reconciliation and dialogue, which are at the heart of the theories and practices of 'bottom-up' pacification, and even the eventuality of a “bottom-up” reconciliation spreading step by step a 'culture of peace', which would eventually permeate society as a whole.

The aim of this thesis is to analyse how the concept of work-life balance (and reconciliation policies in general) is constructed and defined at the European Union level. In order to analyse these often implicit definitions, the European Commission's working documents from 1995 to 2016 are gathered and subjected to category and content analysis. Reconciliation policies and work-life balance are stable concepts, occurring in 152 documents over the studied 22 years period. Annual Reports on gender equality and documents connected to the European Employment Strategy are specifically analysed. Even though the "reconciliation policies are part of equality policies" argumentation is often stressed, the expressed goals are usually connected to the goals of employment policies and economic policies, with economic growth being behind this argumentation. The most represented policy areas are leave policies, mainly parental leave, and services for childcare and other dependants, usually connected to the same goal - bringing more women into the labour market.