The slowing down of population growth in combination with population ageing, and changing family forms and structure, characteristic of the first and second demographic transitions, cannot be fully understood without also examining the changing relationship between family life and paid work. One of the main problems associated with low population growth in the developed world is its impact on the size of the population of working age in relation to the inactive dependent population. Changing family forms raise issues about the ability of parents, especially lone parents, to rear children and provide care for relatives, while also securing family income. Much has been written about the relationship between paid work and family life, particularly with reference to the possible causal effects of women's employment on family building, marital harmony and the welfare of children (for example Brannen et al, 1994; García-Ramon and Monk, 1996; Drew et al, 1998; Rubery et al, 1999; Hakim, 2000). Whether fertility levels fell because more women were entering employment outside the home from the late 1960s, and/or whether the ability to control fertility made women available for more continuous employment careers are moot questions.

The issue of how to reconcile employment and family life had been on the policy agenda of governments in northern Europe since the 1970s and acquired visibility in European legislation in the 1990s (European Commission, 1999c; Hantrais, 2000b). A growing concern for policy actors at the beginning of the 21st century in some countries, notably the United Kingdom, was how to enable parents to achieve an equitable work–life balance in the interests of both business and family members (Humphreys et al, 2000; Department of Trade and Industry, 2001). The question became more salient in a context where female labour offered a possible solution to the problems created by a dwindling workforce as a result of low population growth and population ageing (Rubery and Smith, 1999). Not all member states in the European Union (EU) support state involvement in matters encroaching on the private lives of individuals and, even less so, on the relationships between family members. Broader consensus is found, at least at the rhetorical level, that governments should intervene to ensure greater equality of opportunity between women and men at the workplace and in public life, and to reduce the burden created for the working population by the increasingly high old age dependency ratio.