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Støtten til og praksisser for work life balance varierer i stor grad over Europa. I den anden europæiske livskvalitetsundersøgelse i Europa – Familieliv og arbejde (2010) (http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/pubdocs/2010/02/en/1/EF1002EN.pdf) påpegede forskere, at EU medlemsstaterne kan klassificeres i seks landegrupper, som præsenterer forskellige betingelser, der påvirker balancen mellem arbejds- og familieliv:

Klynge 1: de nordiske lande - Danmark, Finland og Sverige.

Disse lande tilbyder de bedste betingelser for kombinationen mellem arbejde og familie. De har veludviklede offentlige pasningstilbud, lave barrierer for tilbagevending til arbejdsmarkedet og relativt fleksibel arbejdsorganisation i form af deltidsansættelser og arbejdstider. Politikker er orienteret mod både trivsel i familier og støtte af ligestilling.

Cluster 2: the Benelux countries – Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands – and France.

These countries are more diverse than the Nordic states. Belgium and France have family-friendly policies that are strongly oriented towards encouraging and supporting mothers’ employment. They have almost as strong public care facilities as the Nordic countries. The Netherlands offers employees very flexible work arrangements and Luxembourg is characterised by relatively low barriers to labour market entry.

Cluster 3: the Anglo-Saxon countries – Ireland and the United Kingdom.

These two countries generally provide worse conditions for reconciling work and family life, particularly from institutional and cultural perspectives. Although both have a welfare state the state does not interfere in family matters unless the family or the market fails. Similarly, concerns about gender issues are not so strong: women are not discouraged from economic activity but there is little cultural support in reconciling work and family duties. The provision of public care arrangements is low and the leave provisions offered to women are minimal. However, the Anglo-Saxon countries have flexible labour markets, particularly in terms of low barriers to labour market entry.

Cluster 4: the German-speaking countries.

Although both Austria and Germany have well established welfare states the principles underlying them are different to those of the Anglo-Saxon countries. For a long time the underlying family policies have been organised around traditional perceptions of women’s roles, with the belief that women’s employment has negative consequences for family well-being. Family policy reforms have been introduced in Austria and Germany only recently, suggesting a shift towards more support for a dual-earner household model. The social acceptance of a mother’s employment is still relatively low in the two countries and the barriers to labour market entry in Germany are much stronger than in the Anglo-Saxon countries.

Cluster 5: the southern European countries.

The Southern European countries display high incompatibilities between family life and women’s employment, with less support for combining family duties with paid employment. The public care system is less developed and financial assistance for families is strongly limited, largely because of a belief that families are central and society and they seldom fail. Furthermore, women in Greece, Italy and Spain experience strong barriers to labour market entry. Work arrangements are relatively rigid, especially in Greece, Italy and Portugal. Also, women are seen as homemakers and the main care providers while men are perceived as breadwinners, so the social acceptance of women’s employment is relatively weak.

Cluster 6: the former socialist countries.

While the socialist period provided many welfare policies to support mothers’ employment, political change has often resulted in serious cuts in expenditure on public care facilities and family benefits. With the exception of eastern Germany, the post-socialist countries generally have the poorest public care provision in Europe and work arrangements are more rigid than elsewhere. Furthermore, attitudes towards women’s work are variable: on the one hand there are negative attitudes against the employment of women with young children, but on the other hand women with older children are expected to work and contribute to the household budget.

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