‘Everything now, all the time’: The connectivity paradox and gender equality in the legal profession

Abstract

Digital workplace technologies have created a connectivity paradox in professional workplace settings. These technologies allow professionals greater spatial-temporal control over their work, but also elevate expectations regarding responsiveness outside of working hours. This study examines how lawyers in Australia understand and navigate the connectivity paradox, given the rapid expansion of digital technologies during and after the Covid-19 pandemic. We find that many lawyers experience digitally enabled flexibility as a welcome and emancipatory removal of gendered participation barriers and a potential facilitator of gender equality in the profession. At the same time, the intensity of work and pressure to be constantly connected means that digital presenteeism may be replacing physical presenteeism, reinforcing expectations of ultralong working hours and further eroding gender equality in the profession. Our study underscores the need for regulatory interventions, such as a ‘right to disconnect’, to balance the benefits of digital flexibility with protections against overwork.