In 1929, Virginia Woolf's "A Room of One's Own" describes the unmet need of women to have their own room, to be able to work, create, and express themselves freely. Almost a century later, this need remains. It is a need made even more clear during the pandemic when homes became workplaces.
The unanticipated move to a dual-homeworking arrangement due to the COVID-19 crisis made the need for space a central issue for many couples and challenged existing balances at home, particularly among heterosexual, upper-middle-class, families. Based upon our research, it appears women faced greater difficulties compared to men, whose work may be more prioritized.
In this study we interviewed 15 heterosexual Israeli couples who work full-time and have at least one child under the age of 18 living at home. We asked them about their experience of working from home and the division of labor and space between the spouses.
We found three main issues relating to these experience.
The Right To Space
"He conquered the room. Makes himself coffee, shutting the door. 'That's it, now I'm here, deal with it.' At a certain point I felt I couldn't take it, I wasn't making any headway [at work]…"
The quote above from one of our participants illustrated a common problem among those interviewed. Among almost all of the couples, home space was divided unequally. Men found themselves a private, quiet room where they would spend most of the daytime working hours. In contrast, women tended to place themselves in the living or dining room, where they could observe and care for the children during working hours. Although most couples defined themselves as adhering to a more or less equal division of labor, in the struggle for space the men's prerogative to a quiet workspace was taken for granted and was hardly negotiated.
Even though a lot of the women admitted that not having their own workspace at home negatively affected their work, a significant number of women also stated that they preferred working from central locations that allowed them to look after the children or supervise the house in general.
Control Of Work Time
It's unbearable, having everyone here… I'm only waiting for them to leave, I need my peace… and [the kid] keeps calling and texting me, that pest…. So it's not easy for me to work that way… I need some kind of continuity…"
Without a room or workspace of their own, the workday was continuously disrupted for many of the women, mostly to attend to their children. As a result, they would miss workplace meetings. Many worked in the afternoons or evenings when their spouses "took over" the childcare and they could have some peace and quiet. However, as during these hours fewer colleagues were present "at work," women's workplace visibility was compromised, and they felt being passed over. For men, that was not an issue, as most reported being able to work continuously and maintain presence at work.
Body And Space Via Zoom
The lack of separation between work and home realms resulted in the kitchen island and sometimes even the bedroom becoming public meeting rooms, exposed for all to see. To maintain a professional appearance in private space, the women made an effort to look their best and tidy up the space around them. The men, on the other hand, felt no such pressure to control how they or their private surrounding appeared via Zoom. As one husband noted:"I don't change my shirt or shave. Maybe I'd avoid wearing a pajama shirt, but I don't wear a dress shirt, because nobody sees anything anyway."
Our study demonstrates that, when dual-earner couples work from home, the struggle for professional space at home and the ability to separate private and public life inside the home was heavily gendered.
Women's "vagrancy" within their own home led to strong feelings of exclusion, not only at work, but also at home. Since it appears that the homeworking trend will continue beyond the present pandemic, spouses, as well as managers and organizations, should acknowledge women's need for belonging and entitlement to a room of their own. It is past time to make room for women to work, whether in the office or at home.
For Further Reading
Waismel-Manor, R., Wasserman, V., & Balderman-Shamir, O. (2021). No room of her own: Married couples' negotiation of workspaces at home during COVID-19. Sex Roles 85(11-12): 636-649. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-021-01246-1
Ronit Waismel-Manor is a senior lecturer of organizational behavior in the Department of Economics and Management at the Open University of Israel. She specializes in organizational research and gender relations and examines the challenges that employees experience as they manage their job and family responsibilities.
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