This essay has been anonymously peer-reviewed by a referee selected by the editors. Submitted: 2015-01-21; Accepted: 2015-01-27; Published: 2015-02-02.

The paper aims to investigate the European and Italian policies of conciliation in order to suggest useful proposals improving the women’s conditions of life and work and allow them to make a free choice in front of the so-called “dilemma of fertility”. On the one hand, these instruments concern family policies which support parents in the duties of child and elders care. On the second hand, family friendly labor policies are essential and they can be offered through the corporate bargaining (flexi-time, bank of hours, teleworking), providing an higher level of parental roles sharing. Interventions that do not take account of both dimensions are unsatisfactory.
The reconciliation of family and work occupies a central role, not only in a truly equal gender perspective and in light of women’s participation in labor market – which is functional to revive growth in a period of severe economic crisis – but above all because it ensures an effective sharing of parental roles and a more inclusive society. Indeed, the culture of care implies a more democratic and egalitarian society.