Deconstructing the myth of teleworking from a gender perspective: experiences and expectations during the pandemic

Abstract

From a gender approach, the article analyses the expectations built around teleworking based on the experience lived during lockdown. The context of COVID-19 increases the modality of telework among a part of the employed population. To what extent the pandemic context reinforces the idea of ​​teleworking as a solution for demands of a social nature and not as a flexible modality of work organization? To answer this question, a qualitative approach is presented based on in-depth interviews to the workforce of a public administration that has teleworked since the start of the pandemic. The results show telework as a female domestic conflict and a male productive time. In conclusion, it is pointed out that the experience of teleworking during lockdown entails different types of conflict defined according to gender, life cycle and professional category. This heterogeneity of conflicts determines the expectations about a future regulation of this modality built on the same base: teleworking perceived as a right.