Helping men get work-life balance can help everyone

Both men and women can benefit from an acceptance of the value of life outside work.
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Women’s increased participation in the labour force over the past 50 years has outpaced changes to work organisation and social attitudes. This is true for issues of work-life balance, which continue to polarise workers and managers.

But work-life balance and gender equality are not only women’s issues. They belong to men, too.

In 2001, the Australian Bureau of Statistics declared that the model of a male breadwinner with a wife at home looking after the family was no longer the Australian norm. Having more women in the workforce is certainly a good thing. Gender equality is not only a matter of social justice, but it has also been shown to create business benefits, when managed properly.

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Laura Good, Deborah Towns & Jesse E. Olsen
About the Author
Laura Good, Deborah Towns and Jesse E. Olsen are researchers at Centre for Workplace Leadership at University of Melbourne.