The Problematisation of Work-Life Balance within the EU, Austria, and Sweden

Sammanfattning: In this Master’s thesis it is asked how work-life balance is problematised within the EU, Austria, and Sweden, aiming to understand how certain representations of the work-life balance problem might contribute to the stagnation or progress of tackling gender equality matters. The research question is answered through the analysis of an EU Directive as well as Austrian and Swedish policies and debates applying a post-structural feminist perspective and the What’s the problem represented to be? approach. As the issue of work-life balance includes both societal, political, and economic considerations, this thesis contributes to the fields of International Relations and Global Political Economy. Both the EU’s, Austria’s, and Sweden’s competitiveness within the global economy depends on how gender equality is dealt with, especially when it comes to women’s participation in the labour market but also their contribution to social reproduction. Moreover, a higher female employment rate entails a global commodification of care, which means that migrants, especially female migrants, take over the care work previously done by the women in the host country. The comparison of EU’s , Austrian, and Swedish work-life balance problematisations shows that Sweden, having the highest gender equality rate within the EU, does not represent work-life balance differently than the other two cases, but the discourse is much more elaborated and diverse, allowing for different understandings and effects regarding gender equality.