Part-time work, women’s work–life conflict, and job satisfaction: A cross-national comparison of Australia, the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom

Abstract

This study uses the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) 2013 ‘Family and Changing Gender Roles’ module (N = 1773) to examine cross-country differences in the relationship between women’s part-time work and work–life conflict and job satisfaction. We hypothesize that part-time work will lead to less favorable outcomes in countries with employment policies that are less protective of part-time employees because the effects of occupational downgrading counteract the benefits of increased time availability. Our comparison focuses on the Netherlands and Australia while using Germany, the United Kingdom, and Sweden as benchmarks. Part-time employment is prevalent in all five countries, but has the most support and protection in the Dutch labor market. We find little evidence that country of residence conditions the effects of part-time work. Overall, the results suggest that part-time work reduces work–life conflict to a similar extent in all countries except Sweden. The effects on job satisfaction are negligible. We discuss the implications for social policies meant to stimulate female labor force participation.