Work-life, diversity and intersectionality: a critical review and research agenda

Work-life issues have important implications at both organizational and individual levels. This paper provides a critical review of the work-life literature from 1990 onwards through the lens of diversity, with a particular focus on disparities of power induced by methodological and conceptual framings of work and life. The review seeks to answer the following questions: What are the gaps and omissions in the work-life research? How may they be overcome? To answer these questions, the review scrutinizes blind spots in the treatment of life, diversity and power in work-life research in both positivist and critical scholarship. In order to transcend the blind spots in positivist and critical work-life research, the review argues the case for an intersectional approach which captures the changing realities of family and workforce through the lens of diversity and intersectionality. The theoretical contribution is threefold: first, the review demonstrates that contemporary framing of life in the work-life literature should be expanded to cover aspects of life beyond domestic life. Second, the review explains why and how other strands of diversity than gender also manifest as salient causes of difference in experiences of the work-life interface. Third, the review reveals that social and historical context has more explanatory power in work-life dynamics than the micro-individual level of explanations. Work-life literature should capture the dynamism in these contexts. The paper also provides a set of useful recommendations to capture and operationalize methodological and theoretical changes required in the work-life literature

Reported Levels of Time-based and Strain-based Conflict Between Work and Family Roles in Europe: A Multilevel Approach

Work-family conflict, Dual-earners, Europe, Multilevel model,

The health consequences of multiple roles at older ages in Britain

Increasing proportions of men and women are combining family (including care-giving) and work responsibilities in later life; however, the relationship between multiple role commitments and health at older ages remains unclear. Employing data from the longitudinal Retirement Survey (1988–1989 and 1994), the present authors applied logistic regression models to investigate the relationship between multiple role occupancy (1) cross-sectionally in 1988–1989 and health status in 1994; (2) retrospectively over the respondent's lifetime up to 1988–1989 and health outcomes in 1988–1989; and (3) retrospectively between 1988–1989 and 1994, and health status in 1994. The health outcomes considered were (1) general health status, (2) functional ability and (3) severity of disability category. Overall, simultaneous role occupancy (e.g. care-giving and employment) at older ages does not appear to be associated with poor health. The authors report a positive association between employment and health, as expected. There were mixed results concerning the association between care-giving and health. Where adverse health outcomes were found, the parental role, alone or in combination with other roles, was most frequently related to poor health. Thus, for a nationally representative sample of mid-life men and women, the combination of care-giving with other family and work roles appears to have few negative health consequences. Further research is needed on whether continued parental demands in mid-life have a negative impact on health