Possibilities to reconcile work and family life in the chilean labour legislation

Abstract

The fact that women have incorporated massively to work has resulted in one of the deepest social changes in recent times. This demands the configuration of a new manner of cooperation and commitment between women and men, to allow a balanced distribution of responsibilities both in family and professional life. This is why the reconciliation between work and family life is such an important issue, to insure equal opportunities in jobs, allowing the strengthening of the possibilities of a harmonic, fair and supportive development. All in all, this issue is beginning to develop. This work attempts to contribute, from the Labour Law perspective, and to critically analyse the possibilities to reconcile work and family life that the labour legislation recognises in order to lay the foundations for an ample discussion of this issue in Chile.