Telework : a New Mode of Gendered Segmentation? Results from a Study in Canada

Telework has been given more and more attention over recent years as a way to reduce urban pollution, as a new mode of work organization and oftentimes as well as a way of balancing work and family. Various authors have held different views on this issue, but a good number of North-American authors have centered their interest on how to make telecommuting function well within a firm, on management tips and issues. There have been relatively few critical studies, and practically no gendered feminist study of the subject, partly due to the fact that most authors concentrate on one professional category and do not have a general view of the telecommuting labour market. Our own research provides a picture of the teleworkers, but goes beyond the general percentages towards a gendered view of the subject. This reveals an interesting fact, which we will call a gendered segmentation of telework or telecommuting. In this paper, we will present data to support this thesis of a gendered segmentation of telework, by stressing the gendered differences in the type of work done in a context of telework, as well differentiations in tasks, in the autonomy of decision to telecommute, as well as in work organization and conditions of work. We will show that work organization and tasks are differentiated according to gender and we will also determine if men and women see the same advantages and disadvantages in telework or if, as some studies indicate, work-family balancing was really an important objective for women, while men would telecommute for other reasons.