Realization of Gender Equality in the Workplace Feminist Perspectives of a WLB

Abstract

It has been a long time since people focused on the term “work-life balance” (WLB). It is an exaggeration to say that a WLB is in vogue like gender equality. Also, in academic fields in Japan, Europe, and the United States, WLB studies have been vigorously discussed, and a number of papers have been published since the 21st century. A WLB policy has been misconstrued as applying only to women because the ideology of the sexual division of work has not been totally dispelled; many women work away from home compared to the old days. This gives a false impression that if working women can easily take maternity leave or childcare leave, many women will have an opportunity to work, which appears to result in gender equality in society. In this interpretation, it has been considered important that company quality should be improved to make maternity leave or childcare leave available to female employees. This paper traces the historical context and previous studies about appearance of the term “WLB,” analyzing what a WLB policy should be to realize real gender equality.