The current distribution of paid work and caring work is inequitable. Some people are combining very long hours of paid work with caring responsibilities, while others with no caring responsibilities are also excluded from paid work. Nancy Fraser's (1996) concept of gender equity, is drawn upon as a normative standard against which to evaluate different models of work and child care in France and the U.K. In practice, distinctions between work, care and leisure are blurred. Correspondingly, all citizens could spread their time more evenly between these activities in order to obtain a more equitable distribution of the costs and benefits of social reproduction.