Flexible Working and the Gender Pay Gap in the Accountancy Profession

Abstract

The relationship between flexible working arrangements and the gender pay gap is explored in this article, based on a study of flexible working arrangements among Chartered Accountants in Britain. Individual interviews with 50 participants provided details on working patterns, flexibility policies and practices, and experiences of flexible working.The article considers whether gender-neutral discourses of flexible working succeed in encouraging more men and non-parents to use flexible working arrangements, thereby potentially reducing the gender pay gap. The study highlighted gendered patterns of take-up of flexible working. Women who worked flexibly or part time typically did so to combine working with caring commitments, in ways that damaged their career prospects. In contrast, men typically deferred working flexibly to a later stage when their career had progressed further. There was therefore a clear impact on current and future salary for women taking up flexible working arrangements, which was not equivalent for the men who did so. In this context, the promotion of flexible working arrangements is reinforcing the gender pay gap.