Denmark’s working parents are struggling to reconcile full-time jobs with family life, according to new figures from DM’s Parent Barometer 2026, with mothers reporting the heaviest pressure in the daily balance between work, childcare and recovery.
Mothers still carry more of Denmark’s care burden
The survey, reported by DR, shows that 51 percent of parents of young children say they do not have enough time in everyday life to manage a full working life, family responsibilities and rest. The pressure is widespread among both mothers and fathers, but it is not evenly distributed.
Among women, 61 percent say they lack enough time in daily life. Among men, the figure is just under 40 percent. The gap becomes clearer when children are ill. According to the figures, eight out of ten women say they usually take care of sick children, compared with just over six out of ten men.
Janne Gleerup, chair of DM, formerly the Danish Association of Masters and PhDs (Dansk Magisterforening), said that both mothers and fathers feel pressured, but that women still take most sick days with children and more often carry a sense of guilt.
The figures point to a persistent gender divide in Denmark’s otherwise highly developed welfare model. Denmark has one of Europe’s strongest systems for childcare and parental leave, but the distribution of unpaid care work inside families continues to shape parents’ experience of working life.
Full-time work and family life are no longer fitting together
Laust Høgedahl, a labour market researcher at Aalborg University, told DR that the findings reflect a working life that has not fully adapted to families where both parents work full time.
Denmark has been successful in bringing women into the labour market, he said, but less successful in adjusting work structures to households with two full-time working parents. The result is a daily time squeeze that falls heavily on families with young children.
This is not only a private problem. It raises broader questions about how Nordic labour markets can maintain high employment, gender equality and family wellbeing at the same time. The Danish case is particularly relevant because the country is often seen internationally as a model for balancing work and welfare.
The survey suggests that many families now experience that balance as increasingly difficult to maintain. For parents, the issue is not only the number of working hours, but also the intensity of work, the organisation of the day and the limited room for unexpected family needs.
Stress is becoming part of everyday parenthood
The figures also show that the time pressure has visible consequences for wellbeing. Six out of ten parents of young children say they feel stressed by the expectation that they must be both good employees and good parents. Another 42 percent say work takes so much energy that it reduces what they have left for family life at home.
Gleerup described the constant feeling of time pressure as the central problem. Young children require time, attention and flexibility, she said, and that adds extra pressure on top of working life.
For DM, the concern is that families may respond by putting careers on hold or withdrawing from the labour market when the pressure becomes too high. That would have consequences not only for individual parents, but also for employers and society.
Høgedahl made a similar point. If the pressure continues, some parents may reduce their participation in the labour market if they can afford to do so. For those who cannot, the risk is more stress and poorer wellbeing.
Parents want shorter weeks and more flexible work
When parents identify possible solutions, they point above all to more flexibility. According to DM’s figures, 44 percent of parents want a right to part-time work, while more than half support a shorter working week, such as a four-day week. There is also broad support for remote work and flexible working hours.
However, DM warns that part-time work cannot become the main long-term answer. Gleerup said it may help for a period, but that the responsibility for making family life work should not fall only on individual parents.
Instead, she argued that working life should be organised more around life phases, including the years when people have young children. In practice, that would mean workplaces and policymakers treating parenthood not as an individual inconvenience, but as a normal part of working life.
The debate also connects with wider discussions in Denmark and across the EU about working time, gender equality and the right to disconnect. In many European countries, shorter working weeks and more predictable schedules are increasingly discussed as tools to reduce stress and improve participation in the labour market.
Denmark’s family model faces a new test
The figures from DM’s Parent Barometer 2026 show that Denmark’s family policy model remains strong, but not pressure-free. The challenge is no longer only whether parents have access to childcare or leave. It is whether everyday working life leaves enough time and energy for families to function.
For Denmark, the issue touches the core of the Nordic social model: high employment, broad welfare provision and gender equality. If parents of young children increasingly feel forced to choose between work, care and recovery, the question is not only personal. It becomes a labour market and welfare policy issue.
The next step will depend on whether politicians, employers and unions treat the pressure on working parents as a collective problem. The demand emerging from the survey is clear: a working life in which both mothers and fathers can be present at home without paying the price in stress, guilt or stalled careers.
