Flexible Work and Housework: Work and Family Constraints on Women's Domestic Labor

Chapter 6 focuses on the topic of flexible work arrangements. Workplace flexibility is often romanticized as an answer to all the challenges working mothers face. While flexibility can be particularly helpful to working mothers as they integrate work and family, it also introduces new complexities working mothers need to consider. This chapter helps women develop a more comprehensive understanding of workplace flexibility. We start with an overview of the different types of flexibility and some of the benefits and challenges women have experienced with these varied work arrangements. We go on to introduce strategies women can put in place to take advantage of a flexible work arrangement and to ensure they are negotiating workplace flexibility in such a way that they don’t trade flexibility for compensation.

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Changes in Parents’ Domestic Labor During the COVID-19 Pandemic

10.31235/osf.io/jy8fn ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Daniel L. Carlson ◽

Richard Petts ◽

Joanna R. Pepin

Keyword(s):

Work And Family ◽

Household Labor ◽

Work Hours ◽

Domestic Labor ◽

Mothers And Fathers ◽

Fundamental Factor ◽

Time Availability ◽

At Home

Stay-at-home orders and the removal of care and domestic supports brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic substantially disrupted parents’ work and family lives. This study leverages this exogenous event to test key theoretical explanations of couples’ divisions of domestic labor. Using novel data from 1,025 partnered, different-sex US parents, our analysis shows an overall increase in domestic responsibilities for mothers, who were already doing most of the household labor, as well as an increase in fathers’ contributions. Driven by increases in fathers’ time spent on housework and childcare, we find that both mothers and fathers report a general shift toward more egalitarian divisions of household labor. Consistent with a time availability perspective, the findings indicate the relevance of increased time at home —due to unemployment, reduced work hours, and telecommuting— as a fundamental factor underlying change in parents’ division of domestic responsibilities.

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Sources of Work-Family Conflict in the Accounting Profession

Behavioral Research in Accounting ◽

10.2308/bria.2006.18.1.147 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 18 (1) ◽

pp. 147-165 ◽

Cited By ~ 37

Author(s):

William R. Pasewark ◽

Ralph E. Viator

Keyword(s):

Job Satisfaction ◽

Family Conflict ◽

Turnover Intentions ◽

Work And Family ◽

Flexible Work Arrangements ◽

Flexible Work ◽

Work Family Conflict ◽

Accounting Profession ◽

Work Arrangements ◽

Work Family

Turnover of experienced and well-trained professionals continues to be a problem for accounting firms. Much of the turnover is among individuals who are trying to satisfy demands of both work and family. This study examines the sources of work-family conflict and their association with job outcomes in the accounting profession. One source of work-family conflict, work interfering with the family (WIF), is found to significantly relate to job satisfaction and turnover intentions. Females are much more likely than males to experience turnover intentions when their work interferes with their family. Another source, family interfering with work (FIW), is not significantly related to either job satisfaction or to turnover intentions when flexible work arrangements are offered, but is related to turnover intentions when flexible work arrangements are not offered. As currently offered, flexible work arrangements seem to be effective at reducing turnover related to FIW.

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Gender Equality in Work and Family

Journal of Family Issues ◽

10.1177/019251384005002007 ◽

1984 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 254-272 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

HALCYONE H. BOHEN

Keyword(s):

Gender Equality ◽

Child Support ◽

Family Policy ◽

Work And Family ◽

Flexible Work ◽

Employment Practices ◽

Income Differentials ◽

Limited Success ◽

European Public ◽

Flexible Work Schedules

This article reviews strategies for gender equality that appear in women's and family policy literature, and the evidence for their limited success in U.S. and European public policies and in employment practices, that is, in persisting male and female income differentials, occupational segregation, shortages in child care and child support, and women's disproportionate use of alternate and flexible work schedules in order to be more involved in family life than men.

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Women's Flexible Work and Family Responsibilities in Greece

South European Society & Politics ◽

10.1080/13608740408539569 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

pp. 35-53 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Nota Kyriazis

Keyword(s):

Work And Family ◽

Flexible Work ◽

Family Responsibilities

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Issues for Women in Student Affairs with Children

NASPA Journal ◽

10.2202/0027-6014.1014 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 34 (2) ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

June Nobbe ◽

Susan Manning

Keyword(s):

Child Care ◽

Student Affairs ◽

Role Models ◽

Spousal Support ◽

Work And Family ◽

Work Environments ◽

Career Goals ◽

Flexible Work ◽

Women In Student Affairs

The article examines how mothers who are employed in student affairs positions balance the responsibilities of work and family. Therough interviews with mothers who were at the least directors of student affairs, issues such as plnning skill, support from supervisors and subordinates, flexible work environments, a lack of role models, changing ambitions and career goals, child care, spousal support, and improved efficiency and effectivenesss were explored and the implications of these factors for administrators discussed.

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Is entrepreneurship the answer to achieving work–family balance?

Journal of Management & Organization ◽

10.1017/s183336720000328x ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 14 (3) ◽

pp. 285-302 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Jodyanne Kirkwood ◽

Beth Tootell

Keyword(s):

Family Conflict ◽

Women Entrepreneurs ◽

Work And Family ◽

Flexible Work ◽

Work Family Conflict ◽

Family Balance ◽

The Family ◽

Work Family Balance ◽

Work Family ◽

Flexible Work Practices

AbstractMany people (particularly women) see entrepreneurship as a way of achieving a better balance between work and family than that provided by paid employment. Fifty-eight entrepreneurs were interviewed in New Zealand (32 women and 26 men) in order to explore the work-family conflict they face, the techniques they use to achieve work–family balance and the effectiveness of these strategies. Our study finds that women entrepreneurs employ a number of flexible work practices, such as choosing where to work, when to work and with whom to work as well as managing their roles within the family. This study concludes that entrepreneurship may not be a panacea for achieving work–family balance. We offer some suggestions for how entrepreneurs may better achieve work–family balance.

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Flexible Work Arrangements for Green Manufacturing

Human Resource Management Practices for Promoting Sustainability - Advances in Human Resources Management and Organizational Development ◽

10.4018/978-1-7998-4522-5.ch012 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 212-228

Author(s):

Idris Olayiwola Ganiyu

Keyword(s):

Technological Innovation ◽

Greenhouse Gas Emission ◽

Green Manufacturing ◽

Work And Family ◽

Flexible Work Arrangements ◽

Flexible Work ◽

Work Arrangements ◽

Flexible Work Arrangement ◽

Work Arrangement

Scientists and environmental activists have constantly emphasized the need to take action against the devasting effect of greenhouse gas emission, which is resulting in immense damage to the environment. The role of flexible work arrangements in ensuring the greening of manufacturing processes globally has not been fully explored by researchers. Aligning employees' green workplace behaviour, technological innovation, and flexible work arrangement could help promote green manufacturing. This chapter employed a conceptual review of literature to examine flexible work arrangement for green manufacturing. Findings revealed that the adoption of flexible work arrangement for green manufacturing could enhance the greening of the production process and employees' ability to achieve a balance between work and family domain.

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Do Workplace Flexibility Policies Influence Time Spent in Domestic Labor?

Journal of Family Issues ◽

10.1177/0192513x06292703 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 28 (2) ◽

pp. 263-288 ◽

Cited By ~ 48

Author(s):

Mary C. Noonan ◽

Sarah Beth Estes ◽

Jennifer L. Glass

Keyword(s):

Child Care ◽

Domestic Labor ◽

Flexible Work ◽

Workplace Flexibility ◽

Mothers And Fathers ◽

Labor Time ◽

Dual Earner ◽

Part Time ◽

Flexible Work Schedules ◽

Using Data

Using data from a U.S. midwestern sample of mothers and fathers, the authors examine whether using workplace flexibility policies alters time spent in housework and child care. They hypothesize that an individual’s policy use will lead to more time in domestic labor and that his or her spouse’s policy use will lead to less time in domestic labor. Several results support their hypotheses. Mothers who work part-time spend more time in housework and their husbands spend less time in housework. Also, mothers who work at home spend more time in child care. One policy has the opposite of the predicted effect: Wives with flexible work schedules do less housework, and their husbands do more. Overall, mothers’ policy use has counterbalancing effects on their own and their spouses’ domestic labor time, implying that policy use has little net impact on total domestic labor time within dual-earner families.

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