Scholars posit that the flexibility stigma—a belief that workers who use flexible workplace policies, such as parental and sick leave—exacerbates gender inequality. However, a large body of research argues that the smaller number of men who take leaves face even more severe stigma than women because they violate norms of masculinity as well as the employers’ expectation that employees prioritize paid work. Empirical evidence in support of this claim comes largely from studies that estimate stigma using proxy measures such as leave uptake rates and pay inequality for leave takers. This study tests the gender deviance perspective more directly using survey experimental methods, in a setting where we would expect stigmatization of male leave takers to be particularly high—among workers in four elite firms in Japan. Drawing on data from over 8,000 employees, the results reveal that, even where the male breadwinner ideology is deeply entrenched, men’s leaves are no more stigmatized than women’s. To the contrary, there are no gender differences in stigmatization of sick leave, and women who take parental leave face more severe stigmatization than men. The results undercut claims that men face greater stigma when they take similar leaves as women, demonstrate the fallibility of proxy measures of stigma, and highlight how, in large Japanese firms, women remain doubly disadvantaged by the flexibility stigma.

中文翻译：

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受污染的休假：日本工作场所灵活性污名化的调查实验调查

学者们认为，灵活性污名化——认为员工使用灵活的工作场所政策（如育儿假和病假）——加剧了性别不平等。然而，大量研究认为，休假的男性人数较少，面临比女性更严重的耻辱，因为他们违反了男子气概的规范以及雇主对员工优先考虑有偿工作的期望。支持这一说法的实证证据主要来自使用替代指标（如休假率和休假者的薪酬不平等）来估计耻辱感的研究。本研究使用调查实验方法更直接地测试了性别偏差的观点，在我们预计男性休假者的污名化程度特别高的情况下——在日本四家精英公司的员工中。根据 8,000 多名员工的数据，结果显示，即使在男性养家糊口的意识形态根深蒂固的地方，男性的休假并不比女性的休假更受污名化。相反，病假的污名化没有性别差异，休育儿假的女性比男性面临更严重的污名化。研究结果削弱了男性在休假时与女性相似时面临更大耻辱的说法，证明了耻辱感的代理衡量标准是错误的，并强调了在日本大型企业中，女性如何仍然因灵活性耻辱而处于双重劣势。