A Life in Balance?

A Life in Balance? challenges the idea that work and family are separate and competing spheres rather than aspects of a single existence.

This volume brings together feminist scholars from multiple disciplines to challenge the notion that work and family are two distinct areas of life in need of balance.

Magazine articles, talk shows, and commercials advise us that our happiness and well-being rest on striking a balance between work and family. It goes unsaid, however, that the advice is based on an outmoded and unrealistic ideal.

This volume reopens the work-life balance debate. Contributors argue that to truly resolve work-family issues, we must recognize work and family life as overlapping aspects of a single existence, rather than separate and competing spheres. A Life in Balance? transcends prevailing myths by revealing how paid work (employment) and unpaid work (caregiving and housework) continue to be set against each other, particularly in support of neo-liberal agendas. A truly equitable national childcare policy must be informed by alternative approaches to integrating family and paid work, such as stay-at-home fathers, family policy in Quebec, and work and care in Aboriginal communities.