Artificial intelligence for better balancing parenthood and work

Marie Melikov - Senior Program Manager of Degroof Petercam Foundation

In May, the Degroof Petercam Foundation launched a large-scale survey aiming to bring people together to find concrete solutions that reconcile parenthood and work. To achieve this, the foundation is collaborating with social partners and associations, and is also leveraging artificial intelligence.

Work-Life balance and the changing family model

For centuries, it was taken for granted that most adults would eventually have children. Consequently, parenthood was rarely questioned. However, society has changed dramatically: women have entered the job market, the traditional family model has evolved, and the birth rate is declining. Additionally, in Western societies, individualism is increasingly overshadowing collective responsibility, and jobs have become status symbols and pillars of mental health.

Although Belgium has set ambitious employment goals, aiming for an 80% employment rate by 2030, there is still considerable room for improvement, particularly in balancing parenthood and work.

Diverse objectives

The Degroof Petercam Foundation aims to tackle issues that make employment access difficult. It is committed to research, experimentation, collaboration, and funding private entities that offer innovative solutions to these social problems.

Over the past 18 months, the foundation has studied the combination of parenthood and work in Belgium, revealing a complex issue with significant implications on various levels.

First, it is a gender equality issue

Economic Justice: In Belgium, women participate less in the labour market (in 2022, 68% of the inactive labour force were women compared to 32% men). Additionally, 40% of women work part-time, compared to only 12% of men¹. When women have their first child, they are more likely to stop working or reduce their work hours². Women often work part-time to care for children or other dependents³.
The lower employment rate among women would not be an issue if they were not at risk of economic and social insecurity. In Belgium, women are three times more likely to encounter financial difficulties (66% of food aid recipients and 70% of the poor are women⁴). Paradoxically, women hold proportionally more higher education degrees, a significant advantage in combating poverty (60% of women have higher education degrees compared to 46% of men⁵). However, in this context, women are not utilizing this advantage anymore.

Social Justice: Raising a child is not considered a job that offers economic or social recognition, nor does it grant rights such as pensions or minimum wages⁶. There is a disparity between the value placed on work and active parenthood, with the latter not being valued.

In addition, there are public health implications

Mental Health: Belgium ranks among the top three countries worldwide with the highest rates of parental burnout⁷. Parental burnout has severe consequences for both parents and children, including school dropout, anxiety, depression, neglect, and even violence. The likelihood of burnout increases when balancing work and family becomes challenging. Burnouts also impact the workplace through absenteeism and long-term disability.

Children: Up to a million brain connections occur per second in a baby's brain. Such a learning rate will never be reached after the so-called ‘first thousand days’. During this period, the parents' role is crucial: by stimulating, nurturing and pampering the child, the foundations for its future health are laid. An important requirement is then that the parent can make time available, but due to job commitments this is not always possible. (Unicef)

Economic implications

Women in employment contribute to national prosperity and the maintenance of the social security system.

Allowing women to keep their jobs while raising children supports the social security and pension systems, which depend heavily on the birth rate.

Scandinavian countries have implemented family-friendly policies for the past 50 years, promoting a good work-life balance. These policies have increased the number of working women, leading to a 10-20% rise in GDP per capita in those countries⁸.

Furthermore, there is also a political dimension

According to OECD figures, Belgium lags in public policies that support parents. Conversely, countries with lower GDPs, like Portugal, have prioritized such policies and made significant progress.

Ultimately, this is a long-term social choice for our country.
What role does work play in our lives?
What place do children hold in our society?
Can and do we want to raise our children?
What kind of society do we aim for?

Unprecedented large-scale survey in four languages

In May, the Degroof Petercam Foundation launched a large-scale survey available in four languages (English, French, Dutch, and German). The survey runs until June 30, 2024, and all Belgians can participate. Everyone, including parents, future parents, employers, families, and associations, is invited to share their opinions. The foundation partnered with make.org, a platform specializing in opinion polls on social issues.

The Degroof Petercam Foundation launched a large-scale survey available in four languages (English, French, Dutch, and German). The survey runs until June 30, 2024 on parents.make.org.

AI: the engine behind concrete solutions to social problems?

What makes this survey unique are the tools provided by the platform make.org to collaborate with volunteers on tackling this major societal challenge. The platform employs an exclusive system that utilizes artificial intelligence to process the collected data. Specifically, AI technology helps make.org rank the information, prioritize it, and identify areas of potential consensus.

This survey may be a small step forward, but its impact is significant. The initiative paves the way for more direct democracy and dialogue, starting with the priorities and concrete needs of the population. In the next phase, concrete action plans will be developed based on the proposed solutions.

In conclusion, this complex issue requires in-depth reflection. The survey results will be published this autumn.

If you are a parent, future parent, grandparent, employee, employer, or if you want to help address this issue, please share your opinion. Your input is valuable. This topic affects us all.

How do you balance caring for your children and your job? Share your ideas and vision on parents.make.org!

¹ Stabel

² National Bank of Belgium

³ Stabel

⁴ Combat Poverty Belgium

⁵ Stabel

⁶ Make Mother Matter

⁷ International Investigation of Parental Burnout (IIPB) Consortium

⁸ Unicef

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