Over the last several years, the shift toward remote work has transformed the professional landscape for millions around the globe. Accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, working from home has become a defining feature of modern employment. This seismic change has long been celebrated as a potential catalyst for achieving a better work-family balance, raising hopes that flexible telecommuting might promote greater equality in household labor distribution. Yet, a recent rigorous investigation conducted by the Cluster of Excellence “The Politics of Inequality” at the University of Konstanz, in collaboration with the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London, reveals a more nuanced reality. Their findings illuminate how gender role attitudes critically shape the consequences of remote work on domestic task division, demonstrating that remote work does not universally reduce inequality but can, in certain contexts, exacerbate traditional imbalances.
The study, undertaken by Dr. Heejung Chung and Dr. Olga Leshchenko, offers an unparalleled data-driven exploration into how telecommuting interacts with ingrained gender norms to influence the allocation of unpaid care and domestic work within heterosexual partnerships. The researchers leveraged extensive longitudinal data from the German Family Panel (pairfam), examining trends across more than a decade—from 2008 to 2021—to capture variations in behavior before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic’s peak. This comprehensive dataset comprises 12,472 observations, enabling the research team to dissect subtle behavioral shifts among men and women holding diverse beliefs about gender roles.
One of the most compelling revelations of the study is the decisive role that progressive versus traditional gender attitudes play in shaping how the flexibility of working from home influences household labor patterns. In families where both partners espouse progressive views supporting gender equality in caregiving and household responsibilities, increased telecommuting correlates strongly with more equitable sharing of childcare tasks. Men with egalitarian outlooks appear to seize the opportunity afforded by flexible schedules to engage more fully in caregiving, thereby mitigating the burden traditionally shouldered by women.
Contrastingly, in households where traditional gender norms remain entrenched, the picture is markedly different. Here, men’s work-from-home arrangements rarely translate into substantive increases in their participation in domestic chores or child-rearing duties. Instead, their behavior remains largely unchanged, with some even utilizing the flexibility to extend their paid work hours. Meanwhile, women in these more conventionally oriented families frequently experience a compounding effect, assuming greater volumes of unpaid care work when working remotely. This dynamic underscores a paradox: remote work can both challenge and reinforce gender disparities simultaneously, contingent upon prevailing cultural attitudes in the household.
Dr. Chung, who directs the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership, summarizes this dichotomy by stating, “Working from home can be a great equalizer – but only in households where men see themselves as equal partners in caregiving.” This insight highlights a critical barrier to harnessing telecommuting as a tool for gender equality: the attitudinal component. Offering structural flexibility without addressing cultural beliefs risks leaving existing inequalities intact or even intensifying them.
The persistence of these patterns through the COVID-19 pandemic, a period during which millions worldwide were mandated to work from home, is particularly telling. During lockdowns, men with progressive gender role attitudes adapted by increasing their engagement in domestic and care activities, utilizing the newfound flexibility to spend more time with their families. Conversely, traditional men largely maintained their pre-pandemic behavioral norms, often capitalizing on the home environment to lengthen their workdays rather than rebalance household duties. Women’s experiences during this period mirror these patterns; progressive women saw some relief as caregiving became more equitably shared, while traditional women bore an even heavier burden.
The implications of this research extend beyond academic interest, suggesting an urgent need for integrated policy approaches that combine structural work reforms with efforts to shift cultural norms. As Dr. Leshchenko emphasizes, “Structural measures – such as the right to flexible work – are essential, but not enough on their own. We also need a cultural shift that changes how families share responsibilities at home.” Without such a shift, well-intentioned policies promoting remote work could inadvertently perpetuate or deepen gender disparities in unpaid labor, undermining broader gender equality goals.
From a technical standpoint, the study’s methodology is rigorous and multifaceted. By analyzing longitudinal panel data, the researchers controlled for individual fixed effects to rule out confounding variables related to personalities and inherent preferences. Furthermore, the study employed advanced statistical modeling to parse out the interactions between telecommuting frequency, gender-role attitudes, and division of labor outcomes. This approach provides robust causal inference about the role of cultural attitudes in mediating the effects of working from home on domestic task sharing.
The findings also add to a growing literature that critiques simplistic narratives around the benefits of remote work for gender equality. While the flexibility of telecommuting is an undisputed advance, its efficacy as a tool to advance fairer domestic responsibilities depends heavily on the socio-cultural context it operates within. This research situates new telework dynamics within the broader sociological frameworks of gender role socialization, challenging policymakers and employers to think beyond access to flexibility toward fostering equitable norms.
Given the intensification of remote work due to the global health crisis, these insights are timely and consequential. They suggest that achieving gender equality in unpaid care work in a post-pandemic world requires complementary strategies at the societal level—campaigns to promote progressive gender attitudes, educational interventions, and incentivization of male caregiving involvement—all integrated with legislative frameworks that guarantee flexible work arrangements.
Ultimately, the study by Chung and Leshchenko offers a cautionary yet hopeful narrative. Working from home holds transformative potential, but this potential will only be realized within environments that support egalitarian gender perspectives. Policymakers, organizations, and families alike must acknowledge and address the interplay of attitude and structure to ensure remote work acts as a genuine lever for social justice rather than a mechanism of entrenchment.
This research stands as a landmark contribution by the Cluster of Excellence “The Politics of Inequality” and the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership, emphasizing the critical intersection of employment patterns, gender norms, and family dynamics. As remote working continues to evolve as a permanent fixture in modern labor markets, such interdisciplinary analyses are invaluable for charting pathways toward more inclusive and equitable futures.
Subject of Research: The impact of telecommuting on the division of unpaid care and household work within families, with a focus on the moderating role of gender role attitudes.
Article Title: Telecommuting and Division of Domestic Work: The Role of Gender Role Attitudes in Germany.
News Publication Date: Information not explicitly provided.
Web References:
- Study DOI link
- Cluster of Excellence “The Politics of Inequality” at the University of Konstanz: https://www.exc.uni-konstanz.de/en/inequality/
References:
Leshchenko, O., Chung, H. (2025). Telecommuting and Division of Domestic Work: The Role of Gender Role Attitudes in Germany. European Sociological Review. DOI: 10.1093/esr/jcaf046
Image Credits:
- Olga Leshchenko, Cluster of Excellence “The Politics of Inequality” at the University of Konstanz. Photo by Ines Janas.
- Heejung Chung, Director of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London. Photo by Sanne Glasbergen.
Keywords: Social sciences, Gender roles, Telecommuting, Gender equality, Domestic labor, COVID-19 pandemic, Work-family balance, Unpaid care work, Sociological research, Flexible work arrangements
