Starting out from the premise that in order to encourage work/family reconcilement, it’s important to intervene at various levels - the sharing and redistribution of care work, market-targeted work modalities, organisation of local services, times and usability of life spaces - the paper examines the Italian case, demonstrating how reconcilement policies have been developed and consolidated due to pressure from the Eu and the importance of a nucleus of norms, the most important being law 53/2000. The variety of experiences conducted are traced back to three successive intervention phases and a type of reconcilement «measures» integrated by some proposals. Lastly, some critical aspects are highlighted for the development of these policies and the positive role of organisational innovation prospected and the resort to more advanced models for flexibility management. only subscribers can see the full article

From the analysis of current trends in female occupation and from the specific contradiction between the desire/necessity of women to enter the labour market, and the entire organisation of the market, stems the urgency to establish conciliation policies intended not as «corrective» downstream measures to allow women to conduct their triple roles as wives, mothers, workers but as innovative, transversal upstream policies as the crux of a new welfare. This thesis is supported in the paper through the analysis of a «case study» of a territorial coalition in the province of Arezzo and reference to recent European recommendations on the issue of reconciliation.only subscribers can see the full article

The paper analyses the quality of work in Italy in relation to the temporal dimension from the results of an Isfol inquiry on the matter. With reference to the satisfaction expressed by the workers on quality perceived in the workplace, the characteristics of working time (duration, regularity, atypical work hours, etc.) are analysed in relation to type of employment (temporary versus permanent, subordinate versus self-employment) and other aspects of occupation. Furthermore, the relationship between working time and other existential aspects (along with the related problems and perception of conciliation) in relation to the various living conditions and use of free time (family relations, social commitments, leisure activities and so on) is examined.only subscribers can see the full article

Part-time work is a widespread phenomenon in the Netherlands, es-pecially among women. Not only are part-time rates higher than in any other country, Dutch workers also report that they work part-time because they did not look for a full-time job. This paper de-scribes and explains the growth of part-time work in the Netherlands as a largely spontaneous process, triggered by the late but rapid en-trance of women in the labour market, the initially hesitant but in the end successful facilitation of part-time employment by labour market institutions and policies and, finally, an adjustment of the legal and tax system erasing much of the unequal treatment aspects of part-time work. Furthermore the paper provides an outlook for the Dutch one-and-a-half earner economy, comparing the Netherlands with the Uk and Germany, and poses the question why Dutch women so far did not seek the road towards full-time employment, the option preferred by their Scandinavian sisters.only subscribers can see the full article