CLAUDIA Goldin is a ground breaker. For having advanced ‘our understanding of women’s labour market outcomes’, she was awarded the 2023 Nobel Economics Prize earlier this month, becoming only the third woman to achieve such a feat and, perhaps most significantly, the first solo female winner in all 122 years of Nobel Prizes in economics.
That’s a staggering statistic in and of itself, but what’s particularly interesting about Professor Goldin’s comprehensive, centuries-wide account of both women’s earnings and labour market participation is how it views flexible working through a historical lens.
Far from being a new phenomenon, expectations around flexible careers have changed throughout the years in line with social norms. Prior to the industrial era, women were more economically active as more work was done in and around the home. Then came the factories and the offices of the modern working world, giving rise to a more rigid style of employment.
In the long view of history, remote work has been a key part of women’s ability to contribute to the economy. There is power in flexibility, as laid bare in Goldin’s study. Power to push forward a more equitable workplace inclusive of mothers, carers, and anyone who may require a more agile balance between work and life.
The resulting economic growth is plain to see. Take pharmacists as an example. What was typically a male-dominated profession built around on-call hours has since evolved to accommodate flexibility. A sea change largely down to independent stores giving way to large pharmacy groups in which locums and shift work became the new norm.
The result? Today pharmacists have one of the smallest gender-wage gaps among high-earning fields. It's also a predominantly female profession – as of 2022, some 62.3% of pharmacists in the UK identify as female.
When we talk about the barriers that still exist on the path to workplace equality, inflexible working arrangements are nothing if not an obstacle. A stubborn one at that.
But what Professor Goldin’s award-winning research has made clear is that understanding the problem is the first step in finding a solution.
And there are signs that entrenched attitudes are beginning to shift. In their UK-wide study, the Equal Parenting Project found that three-quarters of managers now believing flexible working increased productivity, with over 62% citing a boost in motivation among their workforce.
Such flexible work arrangements can help, not hinder, the teams of today. And in this new era of the working world, it’s both the employee and employer who stand to benefit.
:: Laura Dowie is director of Timely Careers, part of The WiB Group
