Masselot, Annick --- "The Rights and Realities of Balancing Work and Family Life in New Zealand" [2011] ELECD 865; in Busby, Nicole; James, Grace (eds), "Families, Care-giving and Paid Work" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: Families, Care-giving and Paid Work

Editor(s): Busby, Nicole; James, Grace

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849802628

Section: Chapter 4

Section Title: The Rights and Realities of Balancing Work and Family Life in New Zealand

Author(s): Masselot, Annick

Number of pages: 17

Extract:

4. The rights and realities of balancing
work and family life in
New Zealand
Annick Masselot

INTRODUCTION
The new millennium has borne witness to the emergence of a new struggle
in employment law discourses. Over the past decade, labour rights aiming
either to reconcile work and family life, to promote family-friendly environ-
ments, or to guarantee work­life balance have increasingly been at the
forefront of policy and law making in developed countries (OECD 2002,
2003, 2004, 2005a, 2007) including New Zealand (see, for example, Depart-
ment of Labour 2008). The last half century has seen a number of
significant social changes lead to a deconstruction of the traditional public/
private dichotomy (Caracciolo di Torella and Masselot 2010; J. James
2009). Changes in family and employment market structures, as well as
growing demographic deficits, have produced a need for legal intervention
in what used to be considered the private sphere of care. Indeed, although
an ever-growing number of people are in need of care, there is a diminishing
number of individuals (traditionally females) who are able to provide it
gratis. As increasing numbers of women are either willing or required to
enter and remain in the workforce, it is no longer possible to assume that
private care will be provided by women. Moreover, despite societal shifts
which have slowly closed traditional gender roles, men remain reluctant to
step in to either replace or contribute satisfactorily to these domestic and
unpaid tasks traditionally undertaken by women (EHRC 2009a). Because
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