The Work-Life Institute has a report called the Reality Check. And it’s packed full of findings that explain the factors leading to poor work-life balance, and the issues it can cause. 

It’s an interesting report to read, because it gives you some data on a much talked about issue. And interestingly, they include a graph on how the different genders experience work-life balance. It’s pretty equally shared until you get to substantial and extreme work-life conflict, when women leap ahead.



In their survey, they found that key risk factors for work-life conflicts included: being female, having young or many children, being well-educated, working long, unsocial or un-preferred hours, having multiple responsibilities, long commuting times, unsupportive work culture or inflexible work practices, tight finances/debt, health problems, unadequare support at home in domestic work of parenting, study deadlines, being from a culturally and linguistically diverse background and geographic factors such as traffic congestion.

If you found yourself ticking a couple of boxes in your head, it’s probably time to consider how you’re doing with balancing your work and your life. The study is very clear it’s not just you - your work environment, your responsibilities, your partner, family, home all play a role in making us stressed, and keeping us sane.

For the full Work Life Reality Check report click here, we will be covering other sections of the report in other blogs also.

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I’m a big fan of the MamaMia blog, and was struck by this video she posted, about women and menstruating. 

It starts with the obvious but often forgotten fact that every 28 days, almost 50% of the world’s population menstruate. Which is not a whole lot of fun here, but goes on to explore what it’s like in Asia, Africa, South and Central America.

As Mia Freedman says, watch it and then forward it to every menstruating woman you know. And consider if you can do something to help women out. Read More