Vol.:(0123456789) Social Indicators Research https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-018-2034-9 1 3 Gendered Efects of Home‑Based Work on Parents’ Capability to Balance Work with Non‑work: Two Countries with Diferent Models of Division of Labour Compared Anna Kurowska 1 Accepted: 9 November 2018 © The Author(s) 2018 Abstract This paper explores gendered impact of home-based work (HBW) on the capability to bal- ance work with non-work in double-earner families with dependent children in two coun- tries with distinct models of division of labour: Poland and Sweden. At frst, I critically engage with the WLB conceptualization in HBW studies and try to address identifed gaps. Driving from the theoretical concept of ‘burden of responsibilities’ and setting it in the capability approach, I propose to operationalize the capability to balance work with non- work as a latent construct, observed through two indicators of the burden of unpaid work responsibilities related to one’s engagement in paid work. To simultaneously measure this capability as a latent construct and the impact of HBW on this capability, I estimate a sim- ple structural equation model for each country. The results show that men in both countries have higher capabilities to balance work with non-work than women, but the diference between genders is smaller in Sweden. I also fnd that HBW is related to lower capabil- ity to balance work with non-work for mothers in both countries and for fathers in Swe- den only. The results of this study show that in a relatively gender equal society (Sweden) the negative impact of home based work on the capability to balance work with non-work afects both genders. On the contrary—in a more traditional society (Poland), men are able to ‘escape’ the trap of double burden of paid and unpaid work when working from home while women do not. Keywords Telework · Work–family reconciliation · Work–life balance · Capability approach · Gender roles · Unpaid work · Exploitation model 1 Introduction In recent years there has been renewed interest in the concept of home-based work, with its potential to ofer workplace fexibility (Powell and Craig 2015). Between 2006 and 2016, the share of people working from home (‘usually’ or ‘sometimes’) in the EU rose * Anna Kurowska a.kurowska@uw.edu.pl 1 Institute of Social Policy, University of Warsaw, Nowy Świat 67, room 110, 00-927 Warsaw, Poland