Negotiating Women's Multiburden as "Remote Workers" through Feminism Perspectives in Domestic Life

Abstract

Remote work is often promoted as a flexible arrangement that provides more flexibility to allow women to manage their paid employment and domestic duties, previous research has neglected the way this flexibility creates burdens and affects the construction of the gender identity of women. This study explores women’s experience of their double identity as remote workers and how they negotiate their gender identity in a family setting. In order to address the research question, this research takes a qualitative research design that uses interviews with five purposely chosen respondents consisting of married women, mothers, and childless women who have worked remotely for at least a year. The findings show that remote work does not reduce women’s burden; instead, it intensifies it by blurring the boundaries between professional and domestic spheres, leading to increased time pressure and emotional strain. Women negotiate their gender identities through everyday strategies such as time management, emotional regulation, and reliance on spousal and family support. This research contributes to a critical understanding of gender and remote work by challenging the dominant assumption that flexibility leads to women’s empowerment. Instead, it shows how telecommuting can be a vehicle for perpetuating gender inequalities whereby flexibility aggravates the multiple burdens of women from negotiating both the domestic and work aspects. Using Judith Butler’s notion of gender performativity, this study exposes how these gender inequalities persist through everyday practices.