Study: Men More Likely To Get Flextime For Career Advancement Than Women

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – A new study has found that men are more likely to be granted a schedule change over women.

The Yale School of Management study, "Men Seeking Career Advancement Are Favored for Flextime," found that men in high-status jobs who are pursuing career development opportunities are more likely to have their schedule change approved over women, regardless of their status.

Researchers also found that men in low-status jobs are more likely to get flextime approval for family care than women.

On the Yale website, Victoria Brescoll, assistant professor of organizational behavior, says workers who need flexible schedules the most – women in low-status jobs with children – are the least likely to get accommodations, but all women are facing a "gendered wall of resistance to their requests for flextime, while men face status-specific resistance."

The information was compiled after researchers asked employers to react to several different scenarios where employees asked for flextime.

Researchers also looked at the employees' expectation of getting approval and found that women were most likely to think they would be approved while men were least likely to think they would get flextime.

Professor Brescoll believes that this study now offers a new explanation as to why women advance in their careers more slowly than men.

"If scheduling leeway to pursue career advancement is granted to men who are already in high-status positions, that may contribute to their more rapid career advancement. It may also be that the association between women and motherhood is so strong that even high-status women requesting flextime to advance their careers might be suspected of hiding the true reason for their request, or they may be viewed as less deserving of further training because it's assumed that they'll leave their jobs in the future. There's an actuarial mistrust of women workers that even women who have proven themselves by achieving high-status jobs and asking for more career training can't overcome," says Brescoll.

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