Ask and Ye Shall Receive? The Dynamics of Employer-Provided Flexible Work Options and the Need for Public Policy – Brescoll et al.

This article demonstrates that flexible working was more likely to be granted to high-status men who requested flexible schedules to allow them to further develop their careers.
For women, neither their status nor their reason for wanting a flexible schedule significantly impacted decisions to grant their request.
They suggest this has the effect of both reinforcing gendered status hierarchies, and perpetuating them.

Managers’ Willingness to Grant Flexitime Request (Brescoll et al., 2013: 376)
Male target Female target
Low Status High Status Low Status High Status
Childcare Career Childcare Career Childcare Career Childcare Career
Means 6.04 5.46 5.32 6.31 5.75 5.86 5.54 5.67
SE .32 .21 .27 .23 .34 .32 .27 .41

Brescoll, Victoria, L.; Glass, Jennifer; Sedlovskaya, Alexandra (2013) “Ask and Ye Shall Receive? The Dynamics of Employer-Provided Flexible Work Options and the Need for Public Policy” Journal of Social Issues, 69(2)
Available at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/josi.12019/abstract