ABSTRACT
Paid work is central to New Labour's family policies, for it is seen as enhancing social inclusion and reducing dependency. In this chapter we consider the government's ‘family-friendly’ employment policies, including policies to increase employment participation (such as childcare provision) and policies to improve the balance between family and employment commitments. We question whether attempts to restructure incentives to work tend to emphasize economic calculation and ignore the influence of family roles on employment decisions. We also ask whether ‘family-friendly’ policies which do not address more fundamental gender inequalities — in paid and unpaid work — may be either ineffectual or counter-productive. Since time is not elastic, New Labour's emphasis on paid work as a solution to social problems may be hard to reconcile with its professed concern with the needs of family life. It seems that women rather than men will still be expected to square this particular circle.
