What is work–life balance and why does it matter? Work–life balance is about striking a balance between ‘work’ and ‘life’. Here, ‘work’ means paid work and ‘life’ means everything else – including, but not limited to, unpaid work, domestic work (cleaning, cooking, washing, etc.), care work (taking care of children, older people, people who are ill, persons living with disabilities, as well as oneself), leisure time and social activities.

The promotion of better work–life balance for women and men is at the heart of EU policies, including the new gender equality strategy 2020–2025. The European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) has looked at how the EU Funds are being used and what they can do to advance work–life balance.

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