The influence of daily work-family decision-making on labour market participation in same sex couples

Research suggests that same sex couples often have more equal relationships than their heterosexual counterparts and share more childcare responsibilities (Williams, 2001), but we are yet to understand how this is negotiated on a daily basis, as well as how this translates into engagement with the labour market after having children. Since the UK economy loses around £36 Billion due to the underutilisation of women's skills (Parliament.UK, 2016) it is important to seek new ways to understand how equality can be negotiated and managed at home, which is known to impact equality at work (e.g. Radcliffe and Cassell, 2014) and women's continued engagement in the labour market after having children (Hampson, 2018). The current project explores how daily work-family decisions are made by working same sex partners that have children, and the influence this has on their engagement with the labour market. In doing so it responds to the ESRC's strategic priority of productivity in two key ways. Firstly, by seeking to understand the challenges experienced by same sex couples in returning to and maintaining engagement in the labour market after having children and secondly by seeking to learn how paid work and care are shared and negotiated by couples in the absence of traditional prescribed gender roles and the influence this has on labour market participation.