The 4 day work week is a positive for gender equality

Blog

Feb 12

The 4 day week benefits working women the most

Across the world, women often end up spending up to three times more unpaid domestic and care work than men. For women working a full-time job, juggling household and parenting duties on top of that can be a struggle.

In 2021, over a quarter of women reported spending more than 10 hours a week doing unpaid indoor housework, compared to just 8% of men. Working women are more likely to spend the post-work time doing a ‘second shift’, i.e. another set of work, another job.

They are therefore losing out on valuable rest time. They then go into work the next day, not as well rested as their male counterparts, but are expected to perform at the same level in the workplace.

This contributes to women having higher levels of burnout, stress and anxiety. It has a negative impact on women’s quality of life.

In top of unpaid house duties, there is also parenting duties. A recent survey found that 67% of women felt childcare duties had cost them progress at work – including pay rises, promotions or career development.

Here’s how the 4 day work week promotes gender equality

We ran a trial which spanned six different countries and 33 companies from different industries. In this trial we found that men contributed more to housework and childcare duties than before the trial.

The men who worked a 4 day week reported spending 22% more time on childcare and 23% more time on housework.

As well as that, it was reported that burnout, stress and anxiety reduced more for the women than the men during the trial. In fact, women are twice as likely to experience burnout than men.

Employed women have the most to gain from the 4 day work week

Gender parity is critical for financial stability and economical growth. The global gender pay gap is closing at too slow a rate, currently. As it stands, it will take 131 years to close the gender pay gap. The COVID-19 crisis slowed down this rate and we have only now returned to the place that we were at pre-COVID.

By reducing work time for all employees it improves the lives of those who need that time back the most. The 4 day work week particularly holds advantages for women.