Deployment of Telework in European Public Administrations

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Part Three: Comparisons and Conclusions
70
Salaff, Janet W. et al (1996) p. 48-52.

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Pict6: 
Type of Work carried out off-site
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Deployment of Telework in European Public Administrations: An Overview
(absolute figures, multiple choice was possible)

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3.8. Gender
Due to the design of our research tools and the data obtained we have not received results that
immediately and directly showed remarkable differences between female and male teleworking
bureaucrats. Nevertheless, overall results allow some interpretations. We have shown that
improved balance of professional duties and activities in the private or family sphere is the motive
with the highest attraction for staff in public administrations, which coincides with general
findings from private companies.
In general, how much the cultural bias to define men as the productive beings and reduce women
to the sphere of reproduction is manifested or undermined differs with cultural configurations,
between generations, according to supply and stimuli on the labour markets and according to the
policies of equal opportunities that are in place. Having such differences in mind, overall
experiences indicate that in the case of homebased telework the spatial merging of production and
reproduction has different consequences for women and men.
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Working at home does not
necessarely mean that men pick up more duties in the household. In the home-office, men are
inclined to underline their professional obligations, whereas woman still devote more time and
effort to duties of reproduction.
Technological and organisational innovation not only destroys, transforms and creates jobs. These
jobs might be further traditionally occupied either by men, or by women. Automatisation in
telephony led to a widespread reduction of female operators during the first two decades of this
century. Nowadays, the female operator again gains importance in the framework of call centres.
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Following the invention of the typewriter the female occupation of the secretary arose. Nowadays,
computerised office automation in combination with telework schemes tends to reduce demands
for the secretary as a specific job, as indicated by two of our case studies. Instead, digitisation of
work procedures, be it on or off-site, tends to ‘secretarise’ or ‘feminise’ most of the professional
activities.