Conciliación o contradicción

Cómo hacen las madres trabajadoras

Abstract

The fast spread of female incorporation into the labour market is accompanied in Spain by a
scanty presence of part-time work, insufficient child care services, and a limited participation of
men in household chores. In such a context, the question raised is how working mothers manage
to reconcile, in practical terms, their dual responsibility of working and taking care of the
family. Starting out from the concept of strategy, an investigation is made into the resources
which most favour the reconciliation between the world of work and the family domain, whilst
also indicating their limitations. Amongst other topics tackled, are the help given by the extended
family, paid help, schools, spacial strategies and temporal strategies. The conclusion reached is
that between family and work there is, today, a relationship of contradiction which those who
most directly personify it — working mothers — resolve in a private, informal and not always
satisfactory way. The information used is based on the Family-Job Reconciliation Survey which
was carried out in 1998 on a representative sample of Spanish working mothers, complemented
with data of a qualitative nature.