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While remote and hybrid work present both opportunities and risks for workers, women face additional challenges that are often overlooked. The blurring of physical boundaries between work and private life in home-based remote work arrangements reinforces traditional gender roles and stereotypes. This has disproportionately negative implications for women, who frequently bear the double burden of unpaid caregiving and paid work. The gender dimension of remote work has to be addressed to ensure occupational safety and health (OSH) for everyone.

Impacts of telework on women

The ‘Occupational safety and health in post-pandemic workplaces’ (OSH Pulse) survey from 2022 reveals that women teleworkers face distinct risks compared to men. These challenges include long working hours, irregular working time, difficulties to disconnect, work-life conflicts, increased workloads and severe time pressure, which lead to health impacts such as stress, headaches, eyestrain and musculoskeletal disorders. Among the factors contributing to these disparities, the following can be highlighted:

• Unpaid care work: Traditional gender norms continue to place the burden of care responsibilities on women. This imbalance causes higher levels of work-life conflict, often resulting in health issues such as burnout, anxiety and depression.
• Work intensification: Women are disproportionately affected by intensified workloads, as they are more likely to remain ‘always on’ to counteract flexibility stigma, that associates flexible work arrangements with decreased commitment, potentially harming their career and wage opportunities. In turn, work intensification makes women more likely than men to develop health problems.
• Organisational culture: Many companies expect workers to prioritise work above all else, maintain long hours and remain constantly available. This expectation disproportionately affects women teleworkers.
• National context: The regulation and cultural framing of telework also play a significant role in its impact, particularly concerning gender roles. Broadening access to remote work can help reduce flexibility stigma, therefore benefitting women.

Unequal access to remote work protections
Women working remotely often find disparities in access to initiatives addressing stress and mental health. Moreover, existing OSH provisions frequently overlook gender-specific considerations. For instance, policies such as the right to disconnect or the right to request telework rarely incorporate explicit references to gender. 

To close these gaps, it is crucial to integrate a gender perspective into legislation and organisational practices. This involves supporting companies in training managers to recognise and tackle gender bias, conducting gender-sensitive risk assessments, monitoring and reporting the gendered impacts of telework, as well as collecting data and evaluating telework arrangements with a gender lens. Equally important is fostering cultural changes to promote shared caregiving responsibilities, which is vital for achieving long-term progress.

Adopting a more equitable, gender-sensitive approach to work-life balance will not only create healthier workplaces but also ensure that women are fully supported and included in the evolving landscape of work.

• For more information on the topic, check out our discussion paper ‘Exploring the gender dimension of telework: implications for occupational safety and health’.
• Explore our previous HWC article focusing on surveillance of remote workers and challenges for OSH.
• Take a look at all content related to remote and hybrid work!
• #EUhealthyworkplaces continues on Facebook, X and LinkedIn.