On June 20 and 21, 2024, a two-day thematic multidisciplinary discussion entitled "Family as a Workplace: Research and Public Policies" within the framework of the Thematic Systematic Support of the National Foundation for Civil Society Development in the field of 'Balancing private and professional life'The multidisciplinary discussion brought together prominent Croatian scientists from various scientific and higher education institutions with the aim of discussing methodological approaches and experiences in the field of balancing family and professional obligations of women and men, with the purpose of opening up space for understanding, creating and implementing public policies within the framework of balancing private and professional life.
The first day of the multidisciplinary discussion was given by: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sc. Valerija Barada from the Department of Sociology, University of Zadar and Associate Professor Dr. Sc. Ksenija Klasnić from the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zagreb.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sc. Valerija Barada presented research conducted in 2022 as part of the BaBe association project "The Impact of Public Policies on the Quality of Family and Working Life and on the Demographic Picture of Croatia - Spaces of Change". The research included multi-stage and multi-component action research using a mixed method, and showed that household chores, especially routine ones, are still most often performed by women; that women also more often have to manage resources, time, emotions and relationships in the family; that women more often experience tensions between family and work roles than men; that children from less developed regions and children from unemployed or single-parent households have a lower chance of using public care and education services.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sc. Ksenija Klasnić presented experiences from five projects she implemented in the period from 2017 to 2024, which included housework, work-life balance and mental work as research subjects. She presented different methodological approaches, which most often included mixed methodology, and highlighted individual findings such as the discrepancy in the amount of time and type of engagement that women and men devote to performing household and other family duties; the existence of gender inequalities in performing mental work between men and women in the private sphere, and the introduction of work flexibility for employees as a tool that would particularly contribute to a more successful reconciliation of the private and professional spheres.
After the presentation, a discussion was held about the possibilities of using digital tools to increase the quality of life of working mothers, about public services, about flexible forms of work and the procedures for constructing various tools for measuring family chores and mental work.
On the second day of the multidisciplinary discussion, a public panel was held, attended by scientists, graduate students, and representatives of the City of Zadar, Zadar County, the Croatian Employment Service, and the Croatian Institute of Public Health. In the introductory part of the panel discussion, Tamara Šterk from the BaBe association presented activities from the first year of implementation of the Thematic Systematic Support of the National Foundation for the Development of Civil Society, and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sc. Valerija Barada emphasized the intention that the research would serve to open a dialogue with key stakeholders, with the aim of designing and implementing public policies in the area of improving the reconciliation of private and professional life.
The panel discussion was attended by Dr. Mirjana Adamović, Institute for Social Research in Zagreb, Dr. Blanka Čop, Department of Sociology at the Faculty of Law in Split, assoc. prof. Ph.D. sc. Anita Dremel, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Philosophy in Osijek, Associate Professor Dr. Sc. Ksenija Klasnić, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zagreb, Dr. Marija Šarić, Department of Sociology, University of Zadar and Assoc. Ph.D. sc. Željka Zdravković, Department of Sociology, University of Zadar.
The conclusions of the public panel can be summarized in a few key points, as follows:
- men who are involved in household/family work mostly perform duties related to the outdoor space (walking with children, repairing and taking care of the car, buying groceries, etc.), which can place women in an isolating position within the household with repetitive tasks
- mental work is invisible, permanent, diffuse, unpaid and mostly performed by women, as a result of which they show the negative consequences of too much mental work that can lead to mental strain
- social aspects of mental work include organizing family life, maintaining social relationships outside the household, and providing emotional support to household members
- cognitive-emotional household management consists of two dimensions: resource and time management and emotion and relationship management, and within both dimensions, reach and intensity can be measured.
- work obligations more often have an impact on family life for women than for men
- men perceive that they perform family/household chores equally to their partners, while women estimate that they mostly do the above
- Research shows that respondents are equally divided in their views on the division of household work, while practice indicates that behavior lags behind attitudes.
- public policies within the framework of balancing private and professional life should be gender, age and regionally adapted
In the closed part of the discussion that followed the public panel, the emotional and cognitive components of mental work and its social aspects, analytical dimensions in measuring mental work, and methods of researching mental work were discussed.
The two-day thematic multidisciplinary discussion is just one in a series of activities aimed at exchanging knowledge and experiences between different stakeholders with the aim of opening a dialogue and creating proposals for improving public policies for harmonizing the private and professional lives of women and men based on research data. We continue to work on raising awareness about the importance of equal sharing of family responsibilities between women and men and the importance of gender equality and enabling harmony between private and professional life.
