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Men Taking Up Career Leave: An Opportunity for a Better Work and Family Life Balance?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2008

JESSIE VANDEWEYER  and
IGNACE GLORIEUX
JESSIE VANDEWEYER
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium email: [email protected]
IGNACE GLORIEUX
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium email: [email protected]
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Abstract

In 2004, 9 per cent of female employees took advantage of the system of ‘career break’ or ‘time credit’ in Flanders, compared to only 3 per cent of male workers. Although the number of men taking a career break is increasing, they remain a small group. In this article the time use of men interrupting their careers full-time or part-time is compared to that of full-time working men, using representative time use data from 2004. Analyses show that a career break does not imply a reduced workload. Half of the men interrupting their career full-time do so to try out another job. Men who take part-time leave are mainly motivated by their desire for a better work and family life balance. About 80 per cent of the time they gain by working on a part-time basis is allocated to household and childcare activities. This suggests that encouraging men to work fewer hours could well be the best policy for achieving gender equality.

Type
Article
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 37 , Issue 2 , April 2008 , pp. 271 - 294
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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