ABSTRACT
Under the influence of the objectives promoted by the European Union, public policies designed to improve the work-life balance seek to produce contexts that reinforce individual autonomy in the articulation of the occupational sphere with the familial sphere. On the basis of a study of the French case, this chapter shows that the work-life balance is still struck very differently for men and women. Its factors are still largely shaped by family arrangements whose effect is only partially weakened by recourse to outsourced childcare services.
