Ranking Work-Family Policies Across OECD Countries: Implications for Work-Family Conflict and Gender Equality

Purpose:Facing dramatically changed demographic trends and harsher working condition due to economic globalization, working parents across countries have perceived increased work-family conflict. Various work-family policies have been developed to help working parents reconcile work and family obligations. However, supportiveness level of policies varies across countries, which not only differentiates countries’ ability to help working parents address work-family conflict, but also reflects assumptions underlying policies that either reinforce or address gender inequality. Although there are numbers of policy analyses have been published, they have substantial limitations, e.g. analyzing only single policy, focusing on few countries, or overlooking gender implications those policies have. In order to fill the gaps and learn from most supportive, integrated policies that simultaneously facilitate gender equality, this research comparatively analyzed and ranked OECD countries’ statutory policies of leave, early childhood education and care (ECEC), and flexible working time, in terms of their levels of supportiveness and efforts to address work-family conflict and promote gender equality; various policy regimes were also identified and discussed.

Methods:Policies across OECD countries (n=33; except Chile due to unavailability of data), were reviewed and then ranked based on two indices, Supportiveness and Gender Equality, developed and respectively formed of six and seven indicators measured by a 5-point scale. A Care-Employment analytic framework was further developed to identify policy regimes. Data used were from OECD family and employment databases, government official websites, country notes published by International Network on Leave Policies and Research, reports, and peer-reviewed journal articles.

Results: Among 33 OECD countries, Sweden was ranked 1^st based on both Indices, while the U.S. was ranked 30^th for Supportiveness and 29^thfor Gender Equality. Mexico, Switzerland and Turkey were ranked the last for both Indices. Based on the Care-Employment analytic framework, four types of policy regimes were identified: (a) state-oriented caring regime (e.g. Sweden) values care by offering generous policy provisions, promotes gender equality, and is on the way towards a dual-earner/dual-caregiver model; (b) family-oriented caring regime (i.e. Mexico and Turkey), regards care as exclusively mothers’ responsibility with meager, if any, policy support and does not pursue gender equality; (c) market-oriented caring regime (e.g. the U.S) emphasizes market means to address care needs and does not actively encourage equal distribution of care work between men and women; and (d) mixed caring regime that shares care among state, market, mothers, and extended family was further divided into three subgroups, mixed state and extended family care (i.e. Slovenia and Belgium), mixed state and maternal care (e.g. Finland), and private care with supplementary government support (e.g. Italy).

Implications: State-oriented caring regime that challenges gendered opposition of paid work and unpaid care work through policy provisions is more likely to address work-family conflict. To better support working parents, leave has to be well paid and equally shared between fathers and mothers motivated by incentives; an entitlement to ECEC and flexible working time has to be granted before or at the end of well-paid leave.  Future research is needed to further examine policies’ effect on reducing work-family conflict.