Equal Care@Work: Transforming STEM Company Culture to Promote Equal Care

The division of paid and care work in Austria continues to be characterised by gender-specific inequalities: Women take on the majority of unpaid care work and are more likely to interrupt their career and to work fewer hours than men. The ‘gender care gap’ is above all the result of gender role models, stereotypical attributions and ‘traditional’ family models. Providing care is still recognised as a ‘female’ quality and men are assigned as breadwinners or providers.

Additionally, the unequal distribution is affected by different working conditions and company cultures, which are also linked to gender – or more precisely, the gender (im)balance of particular fields: ‘male-dominated’ work areas such as STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) often offer fewer opportunities to reconcile paid work and care work, which manifests in a widespread full-time norm, long working hours, high pressure to perform and constant availability.

Based on this background, the aim of the project is to identify company framework conditions, forms of work organisation, company cultures and working practices or ways of interacting that promote or hinder work-life balance. Building on this, measures to reduce the gender care gap in Austrian STEM companies will be developed and disseminated. A key aspect of the project is the examination of gender-related attributions and role expectations, taking into account various company levels and positions (management level, HR, works council, employees). In the primarily male-dominated STEM professions, the focus is also on strengthening the willingness of men to take on care responsibilities (keyword ‘caring masculinities’).

In order to achieve this, a combination of different survey and counselling methods are applied:

• Measuring the status quo by combining different methods of social science: qualitative expert interviews and quantitative survey in Austrian STEM companies
• Accompanied networking of STEM companies (‘company peering’) to enable exchange at equal level and also to identify good practices
• Workshops for managers, works councils and HR from STEM companies with different focus areas
• Wide-ranging dissemination activities through a series of podcasts on the topic, social media activities, a newsletter series and symposiums to spread ideas and approaches

The project takes particular account of the interlinking of research and practice, which is ensured by the broad project partnership between different institutions. The project is implemented by L&R Social Research (lead partner) together with ABZ*AUSTRIA, Papainfo, the Ombud for Equal Treatment (GAW), the Chamber of Labour, Vienna (AK) and the Austrian Trade Union Federation (ÖGB) and is accompanied by a practical advisory board and a transnational exchange of EU experts.

In order to ensure that the findings will be applicable in practice, the project is supported by an advisory board of experts. Members include representatives from the Federal Ministry for Women, Science and Research (BMFWF), the Federal Ministry for Innovation, Mobility and Infrastructure (BMIMI), the Federal Chancellery (BKA), the City of Vienna, the Chamber of Agriculture, the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG), the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT), Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB), MP2 IT-Solutions and HHLE Rechtsanwälte OG.

The project is co-financed by the European Commission as part of the “Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Programme (CERV)“.

The contents of this project are the sole responsibility of L&R Social Research, ABZ*AUSTRIA, Papainfo, the Gleichbehandlungsanwaltschaft (GAW), Arbeiterkammer Wien (AK) and the Österreichischen Gewerkschaftsbund (ÖGB) and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union.