Working time preferences among women: challenging assumptions on underemployment, work centrality and work life balance

This article examines the working-time preferences of women working 20-hour weeks, on different, stable schedules, in manufacturing jobs. The authors conducted qualitative and quantitative research to identify worker profiles based on these women's working-time preferences and the reasons for them. Their findings add nuance to previous research by highlighting that: (1) some, but not all, of these employees can be considered underemployed; (2) working 20 hours a week does not equate to low work centrality and is compatible with working hours being experienced as meaningful; (3) some part-time women workers want to keep time for non-caring, non-working activities despite earning a low salary.