Women’s Double Penalty During Telework: A Mixed Method Investigation of the Gender Effect of Interruptions Between Work and Childcare

Abstract

Telework arrangements remain popular since they have been “normalized” in the context of the pandemic. Telework may help reduce the gender gap in access to work despite women’s prominent role in caring responsibilities. However, the work experience and career effects of such arrangements may also be gendered, particularly given the increased number of cross-domain interruptions that tend to accompany telework. We investigated the gendered effects of cross-domain interruptions between childcare and telework through a mixed methods approach, including a daily diary study with 339 teleworking parents and semi-structured interviews with 16 teleworking mothers and 16 teleworking fathers. We find that childcare-to-work interruptions have negative effects on the fulfillment of career motives, on work engagement and emotional exhaustion, for both men and women. The effects of work-to-childcare interruptions are, however, different for men compared to women, with only women’s perceived daily balance being negatively affected. Interestingly, men even benefit from some positive effects of these interruptions, which allow them to experience more daily authenticity and challenge. Our qualitative findings help to interpret these findings by suggesting gender motive differences with women reporting more relational and (to a smaller extent) uncertainty related work motives. The interview data also illustrate how various approaches to the division of household labor and boundary management may contribute to gendered interruption experiences. Overall, these findings illustrate how the daily experiences of teleworkers can contribute to growing gender gaps in terms of career and wellbeing.