Combination Pressure : The Paid Work–Family Balance of Men and Women in European Countries

People today lead busy, hurried lives with competing time claims between the spheres of paid work and the household. The aim of this article is to provide more insight into the way men and women experience the multiple claims on their time and to attempt to understand the differences between European countries in this respect. Are we able to draw a sharp line in the work–family balance experienced in eastern and western Europe? Expectations are formulated at the individual level (work and home-related factors) and at the contextual level (gender culture and family policy). Data were gathered in 2001 within the international research programme ‘Households, Work and Flexibility’, financed by the European Union. The eight countries included in the analyses are Sweden, the Netherlands, UK, Slovenia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Romania and Bulgaria, and hypotheses are tested using multivariate regression analyses. At the contextual level, results reflect more support for the gender culture hypothesis than for the family friendly policy hypothesis. The multiplicity of options in western European countries due to the emancipation process causes time pressure. Individual factors are especially important in explaining combination pressure in the three western European countries: long working hours, overtime work, demanding job and having young children all add to the pressure men and women experience.