About the Conference

Europe is experiencing profound social changes challenging the idea of European citizenship as status and practice of a wide range of rights ensuring a high quality of life for European citizens. The quality of the reconciliation between paid and unpaid work and family life is now becoming a part of this evolving concept reflecting the pressing social problems of the day. The conference will consider the interplay between official policies aiming to promote a work/life balance and the actual practices of balancing work and family life by individuals, households and organizations. How are individual, family and organizational strategies influenced by structural and policy opportunities and constraints? What are the reasons for the gaps between policies and practices to achieve work/life integration?
The conference will provide a broader comparative perspective examining the practices and policies of work-life balance in Central and Eastern European countries which have remained largely under-researched. Comparisons will be made between the patterns of combining work and care in different European regions - East, South-East, South-West, West, North-East and North. Papers are invited which address issues about the flexibility of work and care, the role of informality in this context, the processes of negotiations within organizations and within families, the changing balance between work and care in the life course, during different life transitions. The conference will attempt to produce policy relevant conclusions, including illustrations of good practices at individual, organizational and societal level.

Keynote speakers

Keynote speakers include Claire Wallace, Suzan Lewis and Thomas Boje.

Costs

The conference and accommodation will be free for all paper-givers, while travel costs shall be covered by each individual participant.

Call for papers

Deadline for Abstract Submission is 15 October 2007.