Editorial: Work–life Balance: A Matter of Choice?

Work–life balance has come to the forefront of policy discourse in developed countries in recent years, against a backdrop of globalization and rapid technological change, an ageing population and concerns over labour market participation rates, particularly those of mothers at a time when fertility rates are falling (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development OECD, 2004). Within the European Union the reconciliation of work and family has become a core concern for policy and encouraged debate and policy intervention at national levels. From as far back as the 1960s studies have proliferated (Lewis and Cooper, 2005, p. 9) on the linkages between work and family roles, originally concerned mainly with women and work–family stress. New concepts emerged, such as work–family conflict or interference, work–family accommodation, work–family compensation, work–family segmentation, work– family enrichment, work–family expansion and, of course, work–family balance (for full definitions, see Greenhaus and Singh, 2003; see also Burke,