Introduction

For more than 30 years, one European country has had a radical policy that goes beyond Parental Leave, not replacing Parental Leave but supplementing it with a leave system that spans the adult life course and has acknowledged a variety of reasons for taking a full or partial job-protected break from employment. That country is Belgium, and this chapter examines the innovative type of leave system that developed in Belgium from the mid-1980s onwards, and discusses in particular its developments since the year 2000. The ‘career break’ system (later relabelled as the ‘time credit’ system in the private sector) gradually extended and developed into an opportunity for employees to develop a kind of time management across their working lifetime.

We begin by looking into the introduction of this system in Belgium. We describe the political rhetoric and narratives legitimising the aims and objectives of the initial measure and its subsequent adaptations. We also give an indication of the use made of this new leave, which despite various constitutional reforms in Belgium devolving many powers to regional authorities remained the responsibility of the federal (national) government. We then consider various types of inequality that have emerged in the time credit system, with a specific focus on gender, age, region of residence, migrants and labour market positioning. We conclude with a reflection on current (and growing) inequalities in access to the time credit system due to changes in employment, in particular the growth of precarious forms of work, and the challenge of creating a more inclusive system, not only in terms of gender, but also class, employment status and ethnicity.

1985–1998: origins and philosophy of the Belgian time credit system

The dawning of the career break system in Belgium occurred in the dire socio-economic climate of the early 1980s, when Belgium witnessed almost unprecedented levels of unemployment and budget deficits, with soaring public debt. Following years of negotiation, a major constitutional reform was decided in 1980. The previous constitutional reform that took place in 1970 had created three cultural communities (Dutch-, French-, and German-language) in charge of cultural matters, and recognised the need to create three regions (Flanders, Wallonia, Brussels) mainly in charge of economic matters.