Tipping the Balance

The recent suicide of of a top woman City lawyer, Catherine Bailey, has once again brought forth a flurry of articles and comments about the problem with our work life balance.

The discussions around work life balance tend to present work as a problem from which we should escape. This is a new and worrying trend in modern society.

Growing up as a young woman in the seventies and eighties, I was actively involved in debates where the right for equal access to the workplace was seen as essential to the liberation of women. Escaping from the isolation of the private sphere in the home and the unfulfilling tasks of endless housework and childcare to participate in the public sphere of work and interact socially with other adults as equals was something we aspired to and for many still remains a goal.

Today, the private sphere is upheld as a haven of self-fulfilment which is being denied us by the demands of work. See Jon Burke on the Fourth Plinth at Trafalgar Square.

What's going on? There is a limit to engaging in a fulfilling way with babies and young children. A stint as an au-pair during a gap year abroad as well as meeting up on the rare occasion with parents, made me realise this.

One reason may be our changed perception of work and the workplace. Has our attitude to work changed because what we do seems to lack any connection to a positive and improving vision of society? As a public sector worker myself, I know that today my work seems to be just an endless achievement of targets. Unlike in the past there seems to be no ethos that what we do is for the good of society and so it feels less fulfilling.

Another reason may be the constantly increasing regulation of relationships in the workplace. Over a period of time, issues such as stress, bullying, and harassment have led to what some describe as 'toxic' relations between people at work presided over by the HR police. Is this what we are escaping from?

Whatever the reasons are it is worth exploring because without work society cannot go forward and we will be the poorer without it.