Ideal and reality, balance and conflict : A study of working parents’ experiences of work-life balance in Fujian, China

Sammanfattning: The study is based on empirical research. Ten semi-structured interviews were conducted with working parents having children under the age of eight (including eight years old). All informants were between 31-35 years old, from Fujian Province of China. The purpose of the research is to investigate how working parents experience work-life balance in their real lives. The research focuses on two aspects of working parents: work and personal life. The research theory mainly includes three aspects, namely, role balance and work-life balance, work-life conflict and inter-role conflict, and a gender perspective. These serve as explanatory tools for the subjective experience of working parents’ work-life balance. The study has answered and discussed the research questions from three aspects:(1) gender differences and flexible working arrangements. It is found that the incompatibility between fixed working hours and the family schedule requirements of working parents leads to work-life conflicts. Men and women adopt flexibility in different ways. (2) role and work-life conflict. The results show that blurring the blurred work-life boundaries has an adverse effect on both family roles and work roles. Furthermore, it is found that with the support and help of the elderly, the time conflict between family care and work for working parents can be reduced. However, if the concept of parenting between the two generations differs significantly, working parents’ sense of work-life conflict may still exist. (3) policies and measures for work-life balance. This part discusses how to better reconcile the work-life balance of working parents. It is divided into two sections, namely, the national policies and the measures of the organisations. Meanwhile, specific suggestions are given.