The Performativity of Choice: Postfeminist Perspectives on Work–Life Balance

Sørensen, Siri Øyslebø

doi:10.1111/gwao.12163

Cited by 64 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…This way, when work-life balance policies are discussed at workplaces, employers rarely make any reference to employees' (of any gender) ability to pursue their hobbies, favourite pastimes or other important life aspects. Rather, what is typically at stake is women's access to flexible working arrangements in order to accommodate childcare needs (Ely & Meyerson, 2000;Kalpazidou Schmidt & Cacace, 2019), revealing the genderedness of this concept (Armstrong, 2017;Rottenberg, 2018;Sørensen, 2017). Therefore, implicit in work-life balance more often than not lies work-family balance (Rottenberg, 2018).…”

Section: Women and Academic Careersmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘All the single ladies’ as the ideal academic during times of COVID‐19?

Utoft

2020

Gender Work & Organization

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Much of what has hitherto been written about women’s lived experiences of the coronavirus pandemic takes their status as mothers and the spouses of men for granted. Skewed care demands on women researchers working from home may translate into individual career disadvantage and cumulative, large‐scale gender inequalities in the future, which is undeniably a serious issue. However, the narrative that single, childfree women must currently, by contrast, be unconcernedly enjoying a surge of productivity needs to be nuanced. Therefore, with this article, I autoethnographically discuss how living alone in the context of the COVID‐19 pandemic provides its own set of circumstances and is hardly problem‐free, which affects how one can deal with issues of academic productivity and work–life balance. Also, I take issue with the premise that our productivity is the golden standard against which we and our worth should be measured while we are living through a global crisis.

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Section: Women and Academic Careersmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘All the single ladies’ as the ideal academic during times of COVID‐19?

Utoft

2020

Gender Work & Organization

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“…830) referred to as 'hegemonic masculinity' has a huge impact on social hierarchy and women's activities, specifically in the global south Through the lens of patriarchy, this article uses semi-structured interviews with women who are engaged in full-time work and who also have private life commitments (including domestic and care responsibilities) to investigate women's work-life balance (WLB) in an extremely patriarchal society, Nigeria. This article contributes to the contemporary debate on women, work, nonwork obligations, and the issue of WLB and gender (Sorensen, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Patriarchal hegemony

Adisa

Abdulraheem

Isiaka

2019

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Purpose -Research on the impact of patriarchy and patriarchal norms on women's work-life balance is scarce. A typical patriarchal society, such as Nigeria, tends to be organised based on gender, and the construct is embedded in the culture. This study investigates the impact of patriarchy on women's work-life balance in a non-western context: Nigeria.Design/Methodology/Approach -The authors adopt a qualitative research approach to enhance their insight into the issue of patriarchy and women's work-life balance. Data for the study was collected over a four-month period, utilising semi-structured interviews as the primary method of data collection.Findings -The findings of the thematic analysis reveal the impact of patriarchy on women's work-life balance in Sub-Saharan Africa, specifically Nigeria. Women's aspirations to achieve work-life balance in this part of the world are often frustrated by patriarchal norms, which are deeply ingrained in the culture. The findings of this study reveal that male dominance of and excessive subordination of females, domestic and gender-based division of labour, and higher patriarchal proclivities among men are the ingredients of a patriarchal society. These issues make the achievement of work-life balance difficult for women.Research Limitations/Implications -The extent to which the findings of this research can be generalised is constrained by the limited sample size and the selected research context.Practical Implications -The insights gleaned from this research suggest that there are still major challenges for women in the global south, specifically Nigeria, in terms of achieving work-life balance due to the prevalent patriarchy and patriarchal norms in the society. Strong patriarchal norms and proclivity negatively affect women's worklife balance and in turn may impact employee productivity, organisational effectiveness, employee performance, and employee punctuality at work. However, an Australian 'Champion of Change' initiative may be adopted to ease the patriarchal proclivity and help women to achieve work-life balance.Originality/Value -This article provides valuable insights by bringing patriarchy into the discussion of work-life balance. This issue has been hitherto rare in the literature. It therefore enriches the literature on work-life balance from a patriarchal perspective.

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“…Although numerous studies on gender and work exist that take a broad discourse analytical approach (e.g., Toffoletti & Starr, 2016)often with a focus on narratives (e.g., Heikkinen & Lämsä, 2017;Herman, 2015) only relatively few studies conduct in-depth discourse analyses utilizing the tools and procedures of discourse analysis to make sense of their data (e.g., Smithson & Stokoe, 2005;Sørensen, 2017). In our analyses in the next section, we do exactly this with the aim of identifying some of the discursive processes through which a gendering of work occurs on the micro-level of interaction.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘It's not acceptable for the husband to stay at home': Taking a discourse analytical approach to capture the gendering of work

Schnurr

Zayts

Schröeder

et al. 2019

Gender Work & Organization

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This article illustrates some of the ways in which the notion of (paid) work is actively being gendered, and how these gendering processes take place not only through organizational practices but also in discourses that circulate outside an organization in the private domain. Drawing on 15 in‐depth interviews with women who opted out of their own professional career in order to accompany their husbands on their overseas work assignment to Hong Kong, we demonstrate some of the benefits of using a discourse analytical approach to capturing and identifying the processes through which these women actively (although not necessarily consciously) gender the notion of work, thereby reinforcing the gender order and its male bias. We argue that identifying and making visible these gendered and gendering practices is an important component of, and a potential trigger for, change both in organizations as well as private contexts.

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The Performativity of Choice: Postfeminist Perspectives on Work–Life Balance

Cited by 64 publications

References 51 publications

‘All the single ladies’ as the ideal academic during times of COVID‐19?

‘All the single ladies’ as the ideal academic during times of COVID‐19?

Patriarchal hegemony

‘It's not acceptable for the husband to stay at home': Taking a discourse analytical approach to capture the gendering of work

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