Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women face some of the widest gaps in the country between the flexibility they want at work and the flexibility they are actually given, according to major new research released today by the Working for Women Research Partnership.

Professor Nareen Young, Director of the UTS Centre for Indigenous People and Work (CIPW) and a Co-Lead of the research consortium, said Indigenous women were paying a heavy price for poorly designed flexible work arrangements.

"Indigenous women are among the hardest hit by bad flex. The flexibility they're offered doesn't account for the cultural and extended-family care responsibilities they carry. Their pay, job security and career trajectories all suffer for it and these losses compound across a working life," Professor Young said.

"This gap is most pronounced for Indigenous women in their 40s and 50s, a period where pay and career progression typically peak. These women show incredible strength and resilience through their commitment to care responsibilities, but without good flex, it costs them dearly."

CIPW Assistant Director Joshua Gilbert said the research showed Indigenous women were experiencing flexible work through a lens of systemic racism.

"Our yarning circles revealed flexibility is often left to the discretion of non-Indigenous managers who are ignorant to Indigenous ways of caring. Even when cultural leave is available, Blak women are hesitant to use it due to the additional scrutiny and suspicion they face from managers and co-workers," Mr Gilbert said.

The findings are published in a report, Good Flex, Bad Flex: Designing Flexibility for Gender Equality, which included a survey of more than 6,000 Australian workers across occupations, role types and genders, as well as focus groups and yarning circles with 400 women in the mid-years 40 to 55 range.

The research was led by the University of Sydney Business School's Australian Centre for Gender Equality and Inclusion @ Work, in collaboration with the federal government's Office for Women, researchers at the University of Melbourne and the Centre for Indigenous People and Work, University of Technology Sydney. It examined the role of high-quality flexibility in creating opportunities for workers, supporting employers to attract and retain talent, and reducing barriers that prevent many Australians from fully participating in the workforce.

Beyond Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, the research found other groups face additional barriers flexible working arrangements that help them balance career, family and community responsibilities. These groups include sole parents, women living with chronic illness or disability, migrant and refugee women and those living in regional areas.

Professor Rae Cooper, Co-Lead Chief Investigator of the research consortium, said the debate about flexible work needed far more precision.

"Everyone is talking about flexible work, but we need to be much more precise about what we mean. There is a world of difference between 'good flex', where workers have some choice and control over their hours and shifts, and 'bad flex', where schedules change to suit the employer and workers have little say," Professor Cooper said.

"Our study shows that good flex delivers positive outcomes for workers' health and wellbeing, supports care and can improve retention. When employers are struggling to find and keep skilled people, that matters for everyone: workers, employers and a flourishing Australian economy."

Professor Elizabeth Hill, Co-Lead Chief Investigator, said the research also pointed to practical steps that could deliver benefits for employers and workers alike, particularly for women navigating what the report calls the "mid-life collision".

"The research focuses on the 'mid-life collision' that exemplifies the working lives of many Australian women aged 40 to 55. Squeezed from all sides, women in these mid-years are working hard, caring for school-aged and adult children often alongside older family members, and too often doing it in workplaces that give them little say over their hours," she said.

"For women caring for family members with disability or chronic illness, caring across extended family networks, or managing their own health challenges, it can become a perfect storm. Workplaces need to respond if they want to keep these talented, educated and motivated women in work. These women want and need good jobs, and workplaces need them.

"When workplaces are designed to support participation, they not only improve outcomes for women, they also create opportunities for men to take on caring responsibilities while helping employers respond to labour market pressures."

CIPW noted an accompanying Actionable Insights Report makes recommendations in areas where the federal government "has levers to act, including through partnerships with employers, state governments and unions".

"Everyone has a role to play. The aim is mutual gains: giving workers more control over their hours and more room to care, while helping employers retain skilled people," the organisation said.

The research forms part of the federal government-supported Working for Women Research Partnership, a five-year collaboration bringing together leading researchers from universities across Australia to build the evidence base for advancing gender equality in work and economic participation.