Telework: A new mode of gendered segmentation? Results from a Study in Canada

Abstract

Telework is seen as a way to reduce traffic congestion and urban pollution, as a new mode of work organization, and oftentimes as a way of balancing work and family. Our research not only provides a picture of teleworkers in Canada, but also goes beyond the non-gendered percentages which are more frequent in the analyses. This reveals an interesting fact, which we call a gendered segmentation of telework or telecommuting. In this paper, we stress the gendered differences in the type of work done, differentiations in tasks, in the autonomy of the decision to telecommute, as well as differentiations in work organization. We show that work organization and tasks are differentiated according to gender and we will see that while the practice of telework is gendered in types of task and time spent at home, the motives for telework, advantages and disadvantages, are similar for men and women.