Flexible working, work life balance, and gender equality

This special brings together innovative and multidisciplinary research (sociology, economics,

and social work) using data from across Europe and the US to address the issue of the

potential flexible working has on the gender division of labour and workers’ work-life

balance. Despite numerous studies on the gendered outcomes of flexible working, it is limited

in that majority is based on qualitative studies based in the US. The papers of this special

issue overcome some of the limitations by examining the importance of context, namely,

family, organisational and country context, examining the intersection between gender and

class, and finally examining the outcomes for different types of flexible working

arrangements. The introduction to this special issue provides a review of the existing

literature on the gendered outcomes of flexible working on work life balance and other work

and family outcomes, before presenting the key findings of the articles of this special issue.

The results of the studies show that gender matters in understanding the outcomes of flexible

working, but also it matters differently in different contexts. The introduction provides further

policy implications drawn from the conclusions of the studies as well as to provide some

thoughts for future studies to consider.