Family policy in a global perspective : integrating care responsibilities with a career in science

Abstract

Women are underrepresented in scientific fields, whether it is in the social sciences (Abels/Woods 2013; Ostendorf 2009) or in the natural sciences (Kahlert 2012; Dautzenberg et al. 2011), and one factor in women’s slower ability to enter and advance their careers has been the responsibilities of care work at home. Family obligations affect women differently to men, as women spend on average more time caring for children and the elderly. Indeed, across almost all countries women tend to spend at least twice as much time on care work as a primary activity than men, and in some countries it can be up to six times as much (OECD 2011: 3).