Reconciliation of work and family life: a public policy issue?

Abstract

The reality of working women is a subject of deep interest throughout the world. The incorporation of women in the work has increased the number of roles to play, but it has not brought with it, neither in the same speed nor in the same proportion, the recognition of their own work, nor is it equivalent to the degree of participation of men in the domestic sphere. So, how is it possible to achieve harmonization between work and family? The key is the development of conciliatory public policies that promote a true balance. In Mexico, equality between women and men is contemplated in the Political Constitution, however, despite this consideration, in practice it is evident that inequalities continue in the economic, social, labor, legal and educational fields.

Due to the above, the objective of this paper is to analyze in depth what are the perceptions of the professors of a public university in the southeast of Mexico, regarding conciliatory policies and how these allow to find a real balance between work and family.

A mixed method was used, with quantitative and qualitative techniques that allowed understanding the complexity of the problem studied. The study was divided into three stages in which a total of 89 professors from various disciplinary fields of the university studied participated.

Among the results, it stands out that there is a significant lack of knowledge about conciliatory policies, both state and national. At the institutional level, there is an unwritten policy aimed at the well-being of the staff in general, but the absence of officially declared actions aimed at harmonizing work and family is evident.