Work-Life Balance and Flexible Organizational Space: Employed Mothers’ Use of Work-Friendly Child Spaces

Abstract

The complex process of work-life management combined with social and economic demands have created difficulties for many working mothers. Although ideologies about “good mothers” suggest that mothers should be constantly available for care work responsibilities, most mothers must also engage in paid work for family sustainability. Using what I call work-friendly child spaces, some privileged mothers have found locations that cater to both parenting and work, which enable them to sustain their careers while also engaging in the early years of parenting. Based on participant observation and interviews, I argue that although work-friendly child spaces accommodate work arrangements that are flexible and mobile, they ultimately reify deep structural inequalities and leave care work as primarily the responsibility of women.