In my master thesis I focused on the presentation of the EU Directive on the reconciliation of professional and private life of parents and carers and the innovations it brings to the legislative system in Slovenia and Spain. Reconciling family and professional commitments can be a difficult task. Caring responsibilities are still, thanks to the stereotypes of traditional social roles that are deeply rooted in society, the main task of women who carry out this unpaid work. The inflexibility and lack of understanding of the labour market with regard to their family care needs leads them to reduce their presence in the labour market or even to withdraw from it. This decision has negative consequences for their financial independence throughout their lives. They also face reduced career prospects and an increased risk of poverty in old age.
With this Directive, the European Union has addressed the challenge of an ageing population and has sought to encourage women's return to the labour market by creating paternal, parental and carers leave schemes that allow for greater involvement of the other parent(s) in bringing up or caring for the other members of the family and in sharing household chores. The Master's thesis also outlines the current family leave arrangements in Slovenia and Spain and discusses the changes in both national legislations as a result of the implementation of the directive.
|
