Invisible Burden of Care & Asymmetrical Flexibility in the Workplace for Single People

Examining the workplace through the triple lens of gender, relationship status, and parental status, allows us to see the unrecognized care burden, and barriers that make access to flexible work asymmetrical for working single people without children.

Invisible Care Burden

Unexamined assumptions that single employees without children have minimal relationship obligations and care responsibilities, and therefore unlimited flexibility, result in expectations of them to fill in for parenting colleagues, be available to work overtime to meet project deadlines, take on business travel, late-night shifts, and weekend cover, and support the prioritisation of peak-time holiday leave for working parents.

While many workplace policies support parental leaveand childcare responsibilities, support for eldercare, sibling care, caring for friends, or pets is often limited, or unavailable. Care responsibilities of working single women without children are overwhelmingly unrecognised, and when combined with expectations to fill in for parenting colleagues, threatens their work-nonwork balance.

Asymmetrical Flexibility:

Supported by family friendly workplace law, and protected characteristics articulated in our anti-discrimination legislation, means childrearing and family care are universally accepted as legitimate reasons to grant flexible work conditions such as being unavailable for certain meeting times, refusing overtime, and leaving work early. By contrast, the personal commitments of single workers (e.g. dating to find a parenting partner, maintaining social support networks, keeping fit, caring for family or pets, attending to health, or life-admin) are viewed as non-essential.

The single worker without visible, and acceptable care responsibilities who states they are unavailable for meetings at certain times can be judged negatively, and their care leave requests limited, unavailable, or denied, even where legislation protects their relationship status.

Here in Australia, it is illegal to discriminate against a single person, because single is a relationship status included in our Sex Discrimination Act 1984. Under the Fair Work Act, 2009, an employer asking a person to work late or on weekends, travel for work, or take holidays at particular times, are subject to significant penalties if a worker decided to make a claim.  

Eligibility for many workplace policies is also informed by protected characteristics identified in national discrimination and harassment law. The absence of relationship status as a protected characteristic in countries other than Australia limits the eligibility of a single worker for a range of workplace benefits and payments, particularly when they are not engaged in parenting. The fact that discrimination persists in Australia suggests the pervasive, internalisation of cultural beliefs and assumptions around the flexibility, availability and care responsibilities of single workers without children, ignorance of rights, and a reluctance to take cases before the Fair Work Commission.