Monday, March 02, 2026
March 8 is International Women’s Day (IWD), a time to celebrate the progress made in advancing women’s rights. It is also a time to highlight the ongoing efforts needed to ensure the full participation of women in all aspects of society.
For this year’s IWD, AMAPCEO Women’s Caucus is spotlighting the ways in which the return to office edict negatively impacts women—who make up 60% of AMAPCEO members.
Women perform a disproportionate amount of domestic labour and caregiving responsibilities1, and the return to five days in-office has only exacerbated the pressure on caregivers.
More frequent commuting and reduced flexibility can present acute logistical and financial challenges for caregivers—they may struggle to match school or childcare schedules, necessitating additional care costs.
Meanwhile, if the standard is five days in the office, those women who do need and obtain additional flexibility can unfortunately experience proximity bias or face-time bias compared to their peers.2
Research suggests that women who work in-office experience increased gender discrimination compared to their peers working remotely, with racialized women experiencing this at even higher rates.3 Examples of this kind of discrimination include being ignored in meetings, being asked to perform administrative tasks outside their role, receiving inappropriate comments or having their ideas credited to others.
Finally, the return to working five days in office means that many women with disabilities have lost the built-in accessibility benefits they experienced working remotely.
For IWD 2026, take a moment to click on the following images below and download ("Right click" + "Save As"). You can also repost and reshare from our social channels.
These are only a handful of reasons why remote work works for women, and why the return to office mandate does not.
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Related Articles
Public service: Union warns return-to-office will disproportionately impact women (CTV News)
The discriminatory cost of return-to-office (Rotman Insights Hub)
How Return to Office Mandates Impact Women and the Workforce (AnitaB.Org)
1 https://www.statcan.gc.ca/o1/en/plus/2649-more-half-women-canada-are-caregivers
2 https://www.inc.com/rebecca-deczynski/hybrid-work-environment-proximity-bias-employee-inequality.html
3 https://theconversation.com/remote-work-reduced-gender-discrimination-returning-to-the-office-may-change-that-2659