The issue
Pressures from an increasingly competitive work environment combined with lack of support for family responsibilities are leading to considerable conflicts and stresses for workers trying to “juggle” work with family responsibilities. It is sometimes assumed that in developing countries family responsibilities are not really a problem since workers can appeal to traditional family solidarity and find some relative who can help look after dependents. However, evidence suggests that family support for the domestic and caring responsibilities of those who work outside the home is less and less available and increasingly problematic, particularly in the urban areas.
Family responsibilities can constitute a major handicap in the labour market particularly when society is organized such that conflict is high between the demands of work and the demands of family. And since women often continue to shoulder the bulk of family responsibilities, the stresses and the disadvantages in the labour market tend to affect them more than men.
Yet families are thus increasingly relying on the incomes of women to meet economic needs and aspirations. In many countries, the increasing labour force participation of women means that the working couple, always a reality in the subsistence and informal economies, is emerging as the norm rather than the exception. In addition, changes in marriage and divorce patterns are increasing the number of single parents who are the main breadwinners for families.
Similarly, enterprises have become dependent on the greater availability of women in the labour market and countries have come to rely on their economic contributions for enhanced national economic prosperity. However, in many contexts, public and workplace policies have been slow to catch up with the social and economic realities impacting on the lives of men and women with family responsibilities.
International labour standards
The Convention on Workers with Family Responsibilities, 1981 (No. 156), is the key international labour standard as concerns the family. Since the Convention was adopted in 1981, the issues that it addresses — conflict between work and family responsibilities and its implications for equality of opportunity in the labour market— have become increasingly prominent.
The other key international labour standard related to family responsibilities is the Maternity Protection Convention (No. 183 of 2000), which is related specifically to the child-bearing role of women and its protection in the workplace.
