Policies meant to keep women working might be accidentally trapping them in gendered parenting roles

Well-intentioned support programs (flexible hours, paid leave) can backfire — men don't take them at the same rate, so women end up in a gilded cage of flexibility that looks like choice but locks in the unequal labor.

This means that fixing gender inequality in academia requires looking at *how* work-life policies are actually used, not just whether they exist on paper.