policies on balancing work and family life

The government of Canada has developed family policies and programmes with the goal to assist families in balancing work and family life. These include:

• on-site day care for children;
• maternity/parental benefit enhancements;
• improved access to benefits by both mothers and fathers, including adoptive parents;
• child support reforms for lone mothers and separated and divorced families.

In Canada, the policy on recognition of the links between paid and unpaid work aims to promote equitable sharing of work and family responsibilities. Related activities include:

• support for families with children (through a variety of initiatives built into the system of taxation and income transfers);
• the caregiver credit (as recognition of the social importance of certain forms of unpaid work).

Even though certain Canadian policies do not define unpaid work as their main objective, this topic is addressed indirectly through such measures as: the caregiver credit, and the provision of the national public pension plan, which ensures that the pension of parents are not reduced as a result of caring for young children.

Source: Setting the Stage for the Next Century: The Federal Plan for Gender Equality, Status of Women, Canada. 1995.