Dual-career Spanish couples in Europe: work-family balance in childcare

Abstract

The article explores the childcare arrangements made by Spanish migrants in Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom. The research is based on semi-structured interviews conducted after an exploratory survey. The respondents, mostly women with university degrees, had engaged in intra-European mobility between the economic recession of 2008 and the health crisis of 2020. In the narratives, women in dual-career couples with young children reflect on how approaching work-family balance depends on receiving social, institutional and family support. In addition, gender expectations affect negotiations around the sharing of roles and responsibilities in different-sex couples. Interviewees underline that the gender divide persists or is even reinforced in relation to employment and technological change. Non-standard and -flexible jobs, little access to services or incompatible teleworking with children at home reveal the fragility of care and welfare regimes and, consequently, the limited ability of couples to find satisfaction in the search for a work–family balance.