This article explores the relationship between work±family roles and boundaries, and gender, among home-based teleworkers and their families. Previous literature suggests two alternative models of the implications of home-based work for gendered experiences of work and family: the new opportunities for flexibility model and the exploitation model. Drawing on the findings of a qualitative study of home-based workers and their co-residents, we argue that these models are not mutually exclusive. We explore the gendered processes whereby teleworking can simultaneously enhance work±life balance while perpetuating traditional work and family roles.
Interest in paid work performed in the home increasingly focuses on the concept of telework but debate over definitions continues. This paper discusses aspects of this debate and argues that project-specific definitions are useful and inevitable. The assertion that a single definition should be used by all research in this area is challenged.
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