Men more likely to be turned down when making a request to work PT?

[OneofTHOSEWomen]

This is what DH thinks and says he has observed in his workplace. He would like to reduce his hours if/when I go back to work FT ( SAHP at the moment) so we can share childcare. Is it that there is a vicious cycle of thinking where men think they cannot work PT because it does not conform to gender norms so don't ask to. Or, are dads asking and being turned down more often by their managers because they are men?
I thought a FoI request to DHs work might clarify the actual situation, has anyone actually done this? Would be interested to know your thoughts.

I have read that they are more likely to be turned down, but don't know if it's true.

What they need to do, is do what women do: take cases to employment tribunals to shift attitudes and make it more likely that employers will agree to reduced hours.

And keep asking.

No idea on numbers. Hard to get info on this maybe?

I was turned down a request after mat leave after being told by manager it would be ok and felt due to some other stuff around funding out men were being paid more that I had to leave.

Certainly women are discriminated against losing jobs etc because of pregnancy.

There's also a thing where jobs with lots of women can be better for flexible etc working and then women do those jobs and etc

I don't have a feel for the answer to his question I'm afraid. It would be good if it became just as common for men to do it as that might stop the whole career death / pay differentials etc that come about at the moment in a lot of roles. Maybe you could say it's not exactly all plain sailing for women who go part time!

Anyway as for your family situation no point second guessing he needs to put in a request with a great reason and why business will not be impacted. Talk to line manager first I guess. And see what happens!

Foi are for public money type things I think? Is he in public sector? In which case I'd have thought he'd have more chance. I know men in public sector working part time and also compressed hours.

In a previous employer there were lots of men working only four days a week but it was generally on compressed hours rather than reduced hours, might be an option to put to your DH's work.

Where I live we know a number of part time /SAHDs so it is possible.

If there are part time women their HR would need a very good reason to refuse.

Nb: do be realistic about the impact of promotion prospects of part time working.

Yes, public sector.

Having said that dh is public sector and he's not allowed but tbf no one is add it's shifts!

Bottom line is it will vary enormously depending on what he does and who he works for! But also, not to rule it out without even asking.

I've thought about this and I wonder if it's actually the case or men think they don't have the rights/ afraid to ask because I suppose it's still out of the ordinary.

I would have loved to be a sahd or go part time but I earned more than my partner.

DH and I both put in flexible working requests and both got them. Different private sector employers.

They have to have a good business reason to say no and if hes observed other men and women getting requests granted, that should help .

Mide7 yes, my point exactly.

However, 60% of men said were not previously aware that they were entitled to request flexible working from their employers.

www.nct.org.uk/press-release/new-research-finds-13-dads-wouldnt-use-shared-parental-leave-because-low-paternity-pay

Not true in my work place, not true in dh's (we both work in the voluntary sector). It may be true overall but I'd also say that my dh was much more reluctant to ask for changes to be made to working life to accomodate having children than I could afford to be. At first he didn't even think he could book holiday months in advance to help cover school holidays because it wasn't the 'done thing' amoungst the senior staff. I asked him to go find out how the women in the senior staff team (which included his boss) managed and of course it transpired that of course they booked holidays in advance for exactly this reason. So now he does too . We had a similar clash over him arranging to work at home one day a week so he could do the school/after school club run. That too proved possible - once he actually asked.

There's some research here showing that actually, men are more likely to be granted flexible hours when they ask, not less likely.

However, the study may only apply to the USA, you can't get to the whole thing without paying.

A lot depends on the type of industry your partner is employed in and also his immediate supervisors outlook on life, at hubbies work although major/national employer and they boast at how progressive they are the family friendly hours are seen as more of a womans thing at local level and any man asking for the same gets offered the really anti social shifts such as night shifts meaning they have the choice of watching the baby properly or sleeping and leaving child unattended,

My friend and her male partner both work flexibly - different private sector (national/international) employers

I'd have thought that we are only now starting to see decent data coming through (presuming someone is collecting it?) about requesting flexible working following the various changes made to employee and employer rights?

In both my work (chemical industry) and DH's old job (public sector) we both were able to work PT. I have an easier time of it though. There are a lot of PT workers at work (male and female), although the women are more likely to work 3 days and the men 4 days. My boss is married to a woman with a very good career which makes the biggest difference I think, he's been though the negotiations about taking time off for the kids. DH's last boss had a SAHW and he was a lot less sympathetic about e.g. having to take time off for sick children because he never had to worry about it. So I can imagine it might be more of a problem for men, but the biggest barrier is probably that they are worried about asking in the first place.