Extreme work, gendered work? How extreme jobs and the discourse of ‘personal choice’ perpetuate gender inequality

Gascoigne, Charlotte; Parry, Emma; Buchanan, David

doi:10.1177/1350508415572511

Cited by 67 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 120 publications

(192 reference statements)

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“…Work intensification and specialization are widely accepted elements of modern work life. However, Gascoigne, Parry, and Buchanan (2015) argue that we should not view these as inescapable characteristics of work organizations but instead as work practices that have developed overtime to conform to traditional gendered expectations for the ideal male worker. These work practices encourage men to accept that they are indispensable at work and have little choice but to place family life at a lower priority.…”

Section: Work Intensification and Job Specializationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Workplace support and European fathers’ use of state policies promoting shared childcare

Haas

Hwang

2018

Community, Work & Family

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Social policies such as paternity leave and parental leave offer fathers the opportunity to be more involved in childcare than earlier generations of fathers. While such policies are increasingly offered by governments around the world, research by the International Network on Leave Policies and Research shows that many European fathers do not take advantage of these benefits, despite fathers' growing interest in participation in early childcare. This article introduces a special issue devoted to understanding how the workplace can impact European fathers' interest in and abilities to take leave, a topic that has received relatively little research attention. The articles in the special issue suggest that barriers to European fathers' leavetaking are deeply embedded in workplace culture and work practices and will be difficult to eradicate without a dramatic challenge to the concept of the male ideal worker, who prioritizes work above family. RÉSUMÉ Les politiques sociales comme le congé de paternité et le congé parental offrent aux pères l'opportunité de s'involver dans les soins aux enfants plus que les pères des générations précédentes l'ont fait. Tandis que telles politiques sont offertes de plus en plus par les gouvernements autour du monde, les recherches du Réseau international sur les Politiques de Congé montrent que beacoup de pères ne prennent pas davantage de ces bénéfices. Cet article introduit un numéro thématique sur la compréhension de l'impact du lieu de travail sur l'intérêt des pères européens au congé et sur leur capacité d'en profiter, un sujet auquel les recherches ont accordé peu d'attention. Les articles dans ce numéro thématique suggèrent que les barrières à l'utilisation des congés par les pères sont profondément intégrées dans la culture du lieu de travail et les habitudes de travail, et seront difficiles à éliminer sans un défi dramatique contre la conception de l'homme travailleur idéal, qui donne priorité au travail plutôt qu'à la famille.

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Section: Work Intensification and Job Specializationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Workplace support and European fathers’ use of state policies promoting shared childcare

Haas

Hwang

2018

Community, Work & Family

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“…Más específicamente, nuestro análisis del caso español (con las ENCTs entre 1999 y 2012) sugiere que la intensidad de trabajo (medida aquí por el ritmo de trabajo) habría pasado de una posición relativamente marginal para explicar la salud de los trabajadores españoles (sexto factor en importancia en 1999) a convertirse en el primer factor desde 2006 (Pérez-Zapata, 2015). Por otro lado y más allá de los riegos para la salud y los riesgos para la conciliación con la vida personal, investigaciones recientes destacan impactos negativos para la toma de decisiones éticas y creativas (Gascoigne et al, 2015;Michel, 2012), entre otros.…”

Section: Intensificación Del Trabajo Estrés Laboral Y Engagementunclassified

Engagement y/o intensificación del trabajo ¿opción y/o obligación?: «Si no haces lo que te gusta, te tiene que gustar lo que haces»

Zapata¹,

Hernández²,

Collado³

2017

Política Soc.

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Resumen. El engagement en el trabajo se ha convertido en el nuevo one-best-way organizativo: pasión y esfuerzo discrecional que garantizaría productividad para los empleadores y bienestar para los empleados. Este es el renovado planteamiento de los discursos del management que justifica nuestro objetivo general de profundizar en las potenciales contradicciones del engagement en el trabajo. El artículo se apoya en trabajo de campo cualitativo realizado en la subsidiaria española de una multinacional americana líder del sector TIC, donde la dedicación al trabajo y la pasión estructuran los discursos de los profesionales y mandos entrevistados. La pasión emerge como una característica esencial de una dedicación al trabajo que se justifica como el resultado de decisiones personales y voluntarias, pese a sus riesgos en la conciliación y en la salud y otras contradicciones de los entrevistados que describimos en términos de doublethink. Sin embargo, un análisis crítico del discurso sugiere que la pasión, más que una opción voluntaria y/o un fin en sí mismo, parece emerger como una insidiosa obligación, un medio para sostener la intensificación del trabajo. Sugerimos la emergencia de una sofisticación de los mecanismos de control normativos/culturales, en línea con lo que la literatura internacional denomina mecanismos neo-normativos, que, como sus antecesores, se apoyan en procesos de subjetivación que actúan a nivel identitario. Los resultados apoyan la creciente (con)fusión para evaluar el origen interno/externo de las exigencias y el control asociado al llamado trabajo del conocimiento, en sintonía con dinámicas sociales de empresarialización, activación y autogestión más amplias. Palabras clave: engagement; intensificación del trabajo; estrés laboral; critical management studies; pasión ; subjetivación; identidad; control; exigencias; demandas.[en] Engagement and/or Work Intensification, Choice and/or Obligation?: "If you don't do what you love, you have to love what you do" Abstract. A high employee engagement has become the new one-best-way across all type of organizations. Passion and discretional effort that would guarantee productivity for employers and wellbeing for employees. This is what renovated management discourses have been promoting for some years now and justifies our general objective: a better understanding of the potential contradictions associated with employee engagement. We conduct qualitative fieldwork at the

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“…Academic literature on work intensity in a wide range of healthcare settings is gaining popularity (Klein et al, 2006;Gascoigne et al, 2015). The Keogh Urgent and Emergency Care…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Staff perceptions and changing role of pre-hospital profession in the UK ambulance services

Wankhade

2016

IJES

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Purpose There is a growing academic interest in the examination and exploration of work intensification in a wide range of healthcare settings. The purpose of this paper is to explore the differing staff perceptions in emergency ambulance services in the UK. It provides evidence on the challenges for the paramedic professionalisation agenda and managing operational demands and work intensity in emotionally challenging circumstances, with significant implications for patient safety. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on the evidence from an empirical study in a large National Health Service ambulance trust in England, this paper examines the challenges and differing staff perceptions of the changing scope and practice of ambulance personnel in the UK. Amidst the progress on the professionalisation of the paramedic agenda, individual trusts are facing challenges in form of staff attitudes towards meeting performance targets, coupled with rising demand, fear of loss of contracts and private competition. Findings Research findings highlight differing perceptions from various sub-cultural groups and lack of clarity over the core values which are reinforced by cultural and management differences. Need for greater management to explore the relationship between high sickness levels and implications for patient safety including the need for policy and research attention follows from this study. The implications of work intensity on gender equality within the ambulance settings are also discussed. Research limitations/implications Ambulance services around the world are witnessing a strain on their operational budgets with increasing demand for their services. Study evidence support inconclusive evidence for patent safety despite the growing specialist paramedic roles. Organisational implications of high staff sickness rates have been largely overlooked in the management literature. This study makes an original contribution while building upon the earlier conceptions of work intensification. Practical implications The study findings have significant implications for the ambulance services for better understanding of the staff perceptions on work intensity and implications for patient safety, high sickness absence rates amidst increasing ambulance demand. Study findings will help prepare the organisational policies and design appropriate response. Social implications Societal understanding about the organisational implications of the work intensity in an important emergency response service will encourage further debate and discussion. Originality/value This study makes an original contribution by providing insights into the intra-organisational dynamics in an unusual organisational setting of the emergency ambulance services. Study findings have implications for further research inquiry into staff illness, patient safety and gender issues in ambulance services. Evidence cited in the paper has further relevance to ambulance services globally.

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Extreme work, gendered work? How extreme jobs and the discourse of ‘personal choice’ perpetuate gender inequality

Cited by 67 publications

References 120 publications

Workplace support and European fathers’ use of state policies promoting shared childcare

Workplace support and European fathers’ use of state policies promoting shared childcare

Engagement y/o intensificación del trabajo ¿opción y/o obligación?: «Si no haces lo que te gusta, te tiene que gustar lo que haces»

Staff perceptions and changing role of pre-hospital profession in the UK ambulance services

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