A A BUSINESS ISSUES

Flexible working and gender roles

Lesson code: VF39-AEDC-LTI UPPER-INT+ (B2-C1)
British English

1 Warm-up
Look at the pictures. With your partner, briefly discuss what you think they show.

2 Key words
Match the words on the left to the definitions on the right.

1. reinforce a. a possible work career or contract

2. gender b. a regular trip between work and home
3. a job prospect c. continuing, lasting for a long time
4. tackle d. male or female
5. persistent e. the difference in what people earn e.g. between women and men
6. a commute f. to confront or challenge something
7. wage gap g. to increase in number or hours e.g. from 1 to 5
8. expand h. to make something much stronger

3 Before you read

Discuss in pairs whether the statements are true or false. Then read the article to check.

1. Flexibility at work is one of the main reasons for accepting a job offer.
2. Working from home makes it easier to focus on household duties.
3. More jobs with flexible working arrangements make it harder for women to find work.
4. Working flexibly is more likely to damage your career prospects if you are a father.
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 Flexible working and gender roles
A A A A
Flexible working can reinforce gender
stereotypes
January 10, 2019
1 Flexible working is becoming a must for many.
One recent report found a quarter of UK workers
have refused a job due to a lack of flexibility. This
number jumps to 40% for millennial workers for
whom work-life balance and flexible working is
key when evaluating a job prospect. Many also
hope that flexible working can help tackle the
persistent gender wage gap.
2 There's no doubt that the ability to control when
and where you work can be really useful for
balancing work with family life. For example,
being able to work from home means you can
avoid (sometimes very long) commutes. And, in
some cases, it can help you mix care or
household work alongside your job. Flexible
schedules allow workers to avoid peak traffic and
make tag-team parenting where one starts early
and does the school pickup, while the other does
the drop off and works later a possibility.
3 Studies have shown that giving mothers access to
flexible working arrangements reduces the
possibility that they will drop out of the labour
market after giving birth to their first child. It will
also decrease the likelihood that they will reduce
their working hours after the first or any further
childbirth. Reduced working hours and moving
into part-time jobs are the most important causes
of the continuing gender wage gap, so this
flexibility may help to reduce it.
4 But there are downsides to flexible working as it
can lead to people working more overtime,
according to research. Plus, men, on average, are
more likely than women to work longer hours.
They also tend to worry about work when not at
work and worry less about the demands they face
in the house.
5 Many women, especially mothers or those with
care responsibilities, do not feel like they can
expand their working days. And, when mothers
work flexibly and work from home, studies show
they increase their time and activities in the
household in a way that fathers do not. This
shows that flexible working may even reinforce
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BUSINESS ISSUES
traditional gender roles men working longer,
women increasing their care duties.
6 Even employers expect women to use flexible
working to address family demands, while men
are expected to protect their working time, which
can help develop their careers. This could explain
why research found that flexible working led to
income premiums for men but not for women.
7 When mothers use flexible working, they are also
more likely to face flexibility stigma the idea that
they are less committed and less productive.
According to a recent UK survey, more than a
quarter of mothers experienced negative career
consequences, such as lower pay and damaged
career prospects, due to working flexibly. For
fathers, this was about one in ten.
8 This does not mean that flexible working in itself is
a problem. But, equally, we cannot expect that
flexible work will automatically help reduce gender
inequality. To enable a better use of flexible
working, a few things need to be in place:
• When gender norms are more progressive,
flexible working is less likely to lead to
traditional gender roles being reinforced.
• If more people work flexibly and overwork is
less common, then flexible working is also
likely to result in better outcomes.
• Flexitime, where the number of hours worked
per week/day is set within boundaries, seems
to result in better outcomes compared to
complete autonomy over your working time.
• We need to challenge organisational cultures
that favour work above everything else, with
long hours considered to be synonymous with
productivity and commitment.
• We need to challenge some of our ideas of men
and women's roles at home.
9 These changes are needed, especially if flexible
working is to help reduce the gender wage gap
and create a better work-life balance for all.
Adapted from: The Conversation by Heejung Chung
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 Flexible working and gender roles
A A A A BUSINESS ISSUES

4 Checking understanding
Answer the questions.

1. How can flexible working help you save time travelling to work?

2. What is `tag-team parenting'?

3. What are the drawbacks of flexible working?

4. How is flexible working different for mothers and fathers?

5. Currently, does flexible working tend to reinforce or weaken traditional gender roles? How?

6. What is the `flexibility stigma' and who does it affect the most?

7. According to the author, which of the ideas below will NOT help flexible working reduce gender
inequality?
a) changing our attitudes towards the roles of men and women
b) having full control over the number of hours you can work per week
c) changing work cultures

5 Find the word

Find the words/phrases in the text which mean ...

1. something that is necessary (noun, P1)

2. together with, combined (preposition, P2)
3. the act of taking somebody/something to a place (two-word noun, P2)
4. not do something you were planning to do, leave (phrasal verb, P3)
5. responsibilities towards your children and home (plural two-word noun, P5)

6. additional money to your salary (plural two-word noun, P6)

7. loyal, willing to give your time and energy to something you believe in (adjective, P7)
8. new and modern, encouraging change in society (adjective, P8)

6 Talking point
Discuss any of the questions below.

1. Do you think flexible working is a good idea?

2. Is there gender inequality in your country?
3. Who do you think has life easier, women or men? Why?
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Review your flashcards at least 3-5 times a week for 20 minutes to keep the material fresh in your memory.
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