Intersections between Work–Life Balance and Gender Policies: Equality and Sustainability for Caring and Family Transition

Dear Colleagues,

The UN 2030 Agenda, in which Objective 5 is dedicated to gender equality, reiterates the urgent need for action regarding Sustainable Development. In 2019, the European Union issued a new work–life balance directive that contributes to and promotes gender equality through the increased participation of women in the labour market and the fair sharing of family care responsibilities between men and women. However, the lack of resources for reconciliation policies threatens the implementation of this directive.

The emergency measures introduced during the pandemic do not always seem to have responded effectively to the needs of families and gender inequalities.

Sustainability (as greater well-being) and equity (gender and generational) policies have often been given little consideration in the face of the complexity of the needs of individuals and families and their increasing differentiation. The personalised management of needs has increasingly highlighted the need for different interpretations of people's choice logic and governance models implemented by institutions at different territorial levels.

Theoretical and/or empirical research papers, based on qualitative and quantitative methods, adopting comparative, as well as country-specific approaches to explore the following topics, are particularly welcomed:

• effectiveness in terms of welfare and sustainability of welfare services concerning work–life balance;
• the innovativeness of governance models of care and personal services in support of work–life balance and gender equality;
• the sustainability of work–life balance measures and services implemented by public, private or third-sector actors aimed at more significant equity between genders and generations;
• the analysis of differentiated work–life balance needs;
• the need for new and different approaches to interpreting work–family balance from a gender perspective (e.g., diversity management; diversity–equality–inclusion; corporate social/family responsibility, etc.) involving a plurality of actors;
• the impact of welfare and inclusion policies implemented by public, private or third-sector actors on social sustainability, with a particular reference to Goal 5 of the UN2023 Agenda.

Prof. Dr. Isabella Crespi
Dr. Elena Macchioni
Guest Editors

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• work–family balance
• gender policies
• caring
• equality
• sustainability