O sentido do direito à conciliação: vida profissional, familiar e pessoal numa autarquia

This article presents the main results of qualitative research on the sense that people have of the right to public support for the reconciliation of work and personal and family life, in the case of staff of a local authority in northern-central Portugal that is the object of an equality plan. The authors conclude that: the sense that the real content of rights is small is reflected in a limited awareness of the obligations that pertain to the state, employers and society in general when it comes to providing services and support for the family; reconciliation problems are individualised and privatised; people have low expectations as to the support they are likely to receive from their employer and the state; and they are thus unlikely to mobilise and demand access to rights.