ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how in reflecting on issues related to work–life balance, participants often mobilise discourses of practices and expectations associated with first-order notions of cultures. Several of participants explicitly linked the various issues to the notion of culture. Although there is increasing evidence to indicate that work–life balance is a global phenomenon, the concept itself originates from Western scholarship and thus most research on the topic focuses on EU countries, Canada and the US. The chapter discusses three main issues: time management; the conflict between different roles; and care arrangements for dependants. It illustrates the importance of the local context for work–life balance and to discuss the role of culture. The chapter looks at work–life balance, a topic that many of participants have explicitly commented on in their interviews as being particularly problematic and as being a reflection of what they commonly referred to as 'culture'.
