Reconciliation of work and family life

MMM advocates the free choice of mothers and families to opt, at certain moments of their lives, to give priority to their family responsibilities and increase family presence.

Essential for mothers – and for fathers, this free choice is conditioned by the existence of policies to reconcile family life and professional life, which must include, among other things:

Child-birth related leave (maternity, paternity, parental leave).
Specific leave to deal with situations where assistance and care for relatives are needed.
A sufficient level of remuneration for these different types of leave.
The development of a diversified offer of childcare infrastructure and services.
The generalisation of flexibility in the world of work, not only for women but also for men.

The reconciliation of family and professional life, while being particularly debated at the European level, is an issue for all mothers, whatever their socio-economic and cultural context.

Recent news on the reconciliation of work and family life

Portrait of a (working) mother exhibition comes to Zurich

09.03.20

International Women's Day - After Geneva and other venues, the exhibition came to the ETH Zurich, Switzerland's most prestigious engineering university.

Unpaid care is work

08.03.20

International Women's Day - 'Time to Care’, the Oxfam report released earlier this year, put the spotlight on the link between global inequalities and an issue at the core of our work: unpaid care work. We sa

Single mothers disproportionately affected by lack of adequate housing

05.03.20

UN Geneva, Human Rights Council - MMM contributed to the discussion on the right to adequate housing by highlighting the economic hardships of single mothers, the difficulties and discriminations they face in a

Single mothers’ economic hardships put them at risk of spiraling debt

03.03.20

UN Geneva, Human Rights Council - MMM oral statement calls upon governments to support single mothers in their double responsibility of raising children and earning a decent living.

Double journöe demi retraite pour les mères

MMM fights for the pension rights of mothers in France

08.02.20

Are we ready to recognise and support unpaid Care work performed by parents - and mothers particularly? Broken careers because of unpaid care work explain a good deal about persistent pension gaps for women. Di

Beijing+25 – Time to focus on unpaid family care work

16.01.20

UN New York, CSW64 - In a statement submitted ahead of the 64th Commission on the Status of Women, MMM highlights the specific perspectives of women in their role as mothers, and calls for policies that address