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Department of Social Policy, London School of Economics
GeNet - Gender Equality Symposium, Queen’s College Cambridge, 26 September 2008
Persuading employers to be family-friendly: a comparison of government information campaigns and
the implications for gender equality
Lisa Warth ‡
Outline
Gender inequality in access to family-friendly working arrangements
Why some employers provide and others don’t: awareness, willingness and ability
Government strategies to inform, persuade and enable employers to be family-friendly: information campaigns
Implications for gender equality
Limitations of information campaigns, conclusions and outlook
Flexible working and gender equality
Allocation of time to work and care deeply gendered
Access to family-friendly working time arrangements can advance gender equality
If left unregulated, provision spreads unevenly across and within workplaces
Women are more likely to have access than men
Access inequalities across workplaces
Why are some employers more likely to provide?
Conditions for provision
Reasons for non-provision
Awareness Need for time flexibility is not known because not communicated or ignored
Willingness Attitude and beliefs of employers
Ability “Know-how” and/or operational capacity
Information campaigns
Work-Life Balance Campaign, UK
(2000-2005)
Success Factor Family Campaign, DE
(since 2005)
Strategies to inform, persuade, and enable
Information and awareness-raising
Persuading employers to support employees with care responsibilities
Capacity-building and “know-how”
Awareness-raising
High media visibility of the issues through high profile supporters and events
Commissioning of research and dissemination of findings
Creation of an infrastructure for exchange
Methods of Persuasion
Construction of a business-case/win-win scenario
The use of credible information channels
Provision of PR opportunities
Capacity building
Expert advice/consultancy services
Guidance materials
How was gender inequality addressed?
UK: targeting of male-dominated sectors
DE: awareness-raising on work-family reconciliation pressures of fathers
BUT in the main, gender neutral
Implications for gender equality
Provision has increased overall
But: access to family-friendly working arrangements has remained unequal
Access inequalities remain
Percentage of female employees Less than 10%
10-24% 25- 49% 50% or more
Working part-time 84 79 94 97
Job sharing 42 39 60 69
Working flexitime 61 46 67 55
Working a compressed working week 38 31 43 45
Working reduced hours for a limited period 61 61 70 82
Working from home on a regular basis 26 25 31 26
None of these 14 10 1 2
Availability of flexible working arrangements
Source: Third Work-Life Balance Employer Survey 2007 Base: All workplaces with 5 or more employees. Figures are weighted and based on responses from 1,462 managers
Limitations of information campaigns
In the main gender neutral, do not attempt to redress access inequalities, rather aim to increase overall provision.
Business-case argumentation is gender-biased
Diffused outreach can create knowledge-gap effect
Non-binding campaigns cannot enforce equal access
Conclusions
Information campaigns on their own insufficient to tackle gender access gap
Can reinforce rather than redress gender division in work and care.
Outlook
Gender-sensitive approach needed: attitudes towards men as carers
Dual encouragement strategy: men as well as employers must be encouraged to make use of family-friendly working arrangements to promote more equal gender division of labour
Thank you
Access inequalities across workplaces
