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Work and Family

‘At the heart of efforts to "strike the balance" between paid work and family responsibilities is the issue of time. Despite a decade or more of economic growth and prosperity many Australians are not living the lives they want and feel pressured, stressed and overly constrained in the choices they can make, particularly at key points in their lives’.
(Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (2007) It’s About Time: Women, men, work and family).

These projects are focused on the work/family landscape in Australia and internationally where changes in family formation and fertility, shifts in women’s employment, and the deregulation and globalisation of industrial relations landscape are reshaping the interfaces of family and employment. All societies are recognising that family forms are changing rapidly and gender roles and aspirations regarding care and employment are changing in line with them. Cultural attitudes, family friendly policies and employment conditions are reshaping the decisions of families about how to work and care, as pressures on work time and family time intensify.

For further information on these projects, follow the links below or contact the Chief Investigators listed.

Recently Completed Work Family Projects:

JaneMaree Maher
 Often in media and policy debates about work and family, simple descriptions of work-life balance and integration are discussed; these descriptions don’t capture the contested and often difficult negotiations within families about how to integrate employment and care. Assumptions about motherhood, fatherhood, and care need to be carefully examined to better support people in their decisions. My research into women’s and men’s choices is always interesting to me because it reveals much more complicated information about the decisions people make about work and family."

Dr JaneMaree Maher

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