Could the 4 day week contribute to gender equality?
Some thoughts to close Women's History Month
Welcome to the latest edition of The 4 Day Lawyer. If you’re new, thank you for subscribing!
Most new subscribers will have found their way here via the article I wrote for the Law Society Gazette earlier this month, arguing that now is the time for lawyers to start experimenting with the 4 day week. It’s great to see members of the legal profession expressing curiosity about what working time reduction might mean for us all.
Today’s topic is a nod to Women’s History Month, which draws to a close today. We’ll be looking at the connection between gender and the 4 day week, and especially the idea of women as pioneers in this space.
Before we dive in, it’s worth pausing for a brief reminder of the core “100:80:100” principle behind the version of the 4 day week that is making the headlines: 100% pay for 80% of the working hours, in exchange for 100% output. The 4 day week is not the same as a traditional part time arrangement, where the employee’s pay is scaled down in proportion with their working hours. Rather, it’s about working smarter to achieve the same or better productivity in less time, with no loss of pay.
With that said, I’d argue that traditional part time working patterns were an important precursor to the current momentum of the 4 day week movement. Those of us (me included!) who have worked 4 days on a part time basis for 80% of salary will know all too well that it’s possible to achieve much more than 80% productivity across a shorter working week.
So, what does this have to do with Women’s History Month? Part time work is a gender issue. According to labour market data running from the 1990s to late 2022, women have consistently been far more likely than men to work part time. Last year’s figures showed that almost 38% of women in employment were working less than full time, compared to around 14% of men.
Unfortunately, this increased likelihood of working part time has also been found to contribute to the widening of the gender pay gap. In 2018, the Institute for Fiscal Studies compared wage progression between mothers and fathers in the years after the birth of their first child. They found that the initial 10% pay gap in men’s favour at the child’s birth widened steadily over time, to the point where women were being paid around 30% less than men by year 20. Around half of this widening effect was attributed to “gender differences in rates of part-time and full-time paid work.”
In my own and others’ (anecdotal) experience, it’s quite common to opt for a part-time arrangement and end up working full time or more, for reduced pay. Employers’ expectations don’t necessarily shift to match the number of hours, and so part-time workers are forced to find efficiencies and consider carefully how to deliver on their objectives. All of which (other than the loss of pay) sounds a lot like the mindset and operating model of the newer 4 day week movement…
The natural conclusion is that traditional part time work short-changes women. In order to benefit from reduced working hours, women have had to accept an up-front pay cut and then contend with additional negative impacts on their earning potential over time. This is despite operating at a proportionally greater level of productivity.
There is also some evidence that traditional part time working patterns are detrimental to men. Researchers at the University of Plymouth have found that men who reduce their working hours to accommodate family responsibilities face a “fatherhood forfeit” and are mocked (both socially and in the workplace), viewed as idle and treated with suspicion by employers.
By contrast, a universal 4 day working week, with no loss of pay, could be an important step towards levelling the playing field for all. As recent 4 day week studies have shown, employees across a wide range of organisations benefit from more efficient ways of working, while also gaining additional time to focus on their wellbeing, caring commitments and personal lives. It’s quite interesting to think about what would happen in society and in the workplace if reduced working time became standard organisational practice, rather than a factor of difference to the detriment of those seeking better balance.
There are some clues in the 4 day week literature to date. The 4 day week has been shown to improve, to some degree, the distribution of paid and unpaid work between men and women. In the UK pilot (which took place between June and December 2022), the time men spent looking after children increased by 27%, compared to a 13% increase for women. However, the trial had little impact on the share of household chores carried out by men.
The 4 day week is by no means a perfect solution when it comes to improving gender equality within and outside the workplace. This is a complex issue requiring a wide range of interventions among employers, policymakers, governments, individuals and wider society. Shifting to a 4 day mindset does, however, offer two key contributions to the cause:
Destigmatisation and disruption of bias around alternative working patterns and the quest for work-life balance. If 4 days becomes a universal arrangement, then women aren’t short-changed into working longer hours for less pay, and men are no longer subject to the negative perceptions associated with choosing to work fewer hours.
A focus on output rather than time spent, which in my view is not only better for business (and for customers/clients/productivity/efficiency) but also fairer for employees across the board. The 4 day week offers a chance to try a new way of working without being penalised in terms of pay or progression, provided that employees achieve the outcomes required of their roles.
While it’s exciting to see the 4 day movement gaining ground, this is also an opportunity to acknowledge the women who have taken a pay cut and sacrificed their own progression (and the men who have overcome biases) in order to get us to this point.
That’s all for this month. Thanks for reading and please do feel free to comment, share and subscribe.
The fine print:
All opinions expressed in The 4 Day Lawyer are my own and not those of my current or former employers. My 4 day working week is an individual arrangement and is not associated with the UK’s 4 day working week pilot. This newsletter is an opinion piece and does not constitute legal advice or create any kind of solicitor/client relationship; please consult with a qualified professional if you need advice on a legal issue.