Educational attainment and gender differences in work-life balance for couples across Europe: a contextual perspective
Autor/in:
Kromydas, Theocharis
Quelle: Social Inclusion, 8 (2020) 4, S 8-22
Inhalt: The current article aims to explain the interrelationships between the educational attainment of individuals living in households with heterosexual partners, their work–life balance (WLB) and the macro-economic climate of the country they live in, using data from the European Social Survey. WLB is a complex concept, as it is not only determined by factors related to someone’s employment or domestic work and childcare responsibilities, but also by decisions informed by personal experiences and circumstances, subjective perceptions and preferences. Moreover, in households with cohabiting partners, this decision-making process involves certain compromises where financial incentives, interests, gender and power dynamics play an important role. Since educational attainment is positively related to labour market outcomes, such as employment and wages, while at the same time more women are participating in education and the labour market, the gender conflict on the division of work and time within households intensifies and traditional gender roles are challenged. WLB is at the heart of this conflict operating as a mechanism through which division of work and time is reconciled on the individual and household level. Results from the current article reveal great heterogeneity between the 17 European countries examined. Perhaps surprisingly, educational attainment can have a detrimental effect on the WLB of spouses and cohabiting partners, especially for women whose level of WLB seems also more sensitive to fluctuations of the macro-economic climate of the country they live in. However, there is an indication that when an economy goes into recession, higher education has a cushioning effect on female’s WLB compared to relatively better economic times.
"Mummy is in a call": digital technology and executive women's work-life balance
Autor/in:
Nagy, Beáta
Quelle: Social Inclusion, 8 (2020) 4, S 72-80
Inhalt: Research findings confirm the contradictory impact of mobile technology on work–life balance, as these tools both guarantee greater flexibility and contribute to blurring boundaries between private and working spheres. Several articles have been published on women executives’ work–life balance in Western countries; however, their usage of mobile devices remained almost unexplored in the post-socialist region, where in the wake of the transformation not only the unquestioned neoliberal change of the corporate sector but also refamilisation took place. This article gives an overview on the issue of how women executives make use of mobile technology during their everyday activities in Hungary, where not only are the signs of ‘corporate colonization’ present, but also motherhood plays an important role. Based on twenty semi-structured interviews with Hungarian women in senior management positions carried out in 2014 and 2015, the article discusses the perceptions and narratives explained by these women. Results contribute to the ongoing debate on the paradoxical impacts of modern technology on work–life balance and its specificities in the post-socialist context.
Schlagwörter:woman; gender; Mutterschaft; motherhood; neue Technologie; new technology; Technologie; technology; Arbeit; labor; Führungsposition; executive position; Familie-Beruf; work-family balance; Ungarn; Hungary; Interview; interview; boundary management; executive women; technology use
SSOAR Kategorie:Berufsforschung, Berufssoziologie, Technikfolgenabschätzung, Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung
"...für mich gibt es dann entweder die Familienschiene oder die Karriereschiene..." - zur Bedeutung normativer Anforderungen in beruflichen Orientierungen junger Frauen
Titelübersetzung:"...for me there's either the family path or the career path ..." - on the importance of normative requirements in young women's vocational orientation
Quelle: GENDER - Zeitschrift für Geschlecht, Kultur und Gesellschaft, 6 (2014) 3, S 94-109
Inhalt: "Für die Beantwortung der Frage nach dem Zusammenhang von Karrieren und Geschlecht nimmt der Beitrag aus geschlechterreflexiver Perspektive normative Anforderungen und karriererelevante Orientierungsmuster junger Frauen in den Blick, die sich in Prozessen der Berufsorientierung und Lebensplanung als bedeutsam erweisen. Vorstellungen davon, 'Karriere zu machen' oder eine 'Karrierefrau' zu werden, sind dabei als durch normative Diskurse vorstrukturiert zu verstehen, innerhalb derer bestimmte Auffassungen von 'Karriere' dominant werden, die von den Subjekten aktualisiert und bearbeitet werden müssen. Vor dem Hintergrund, dass normative Anforderungen nicht erst in konkreten Karriereverläufen und -erfahrungen relevant werden, sondern bereits vor dem Eintritt in das Berufsleben die Lebensentwürfe der Subjekte rahmen, zeigt der Beitrag auf, wie 'Karriere' in Gruppendiskussionen von jungen Frauen der gymnasialen Oberstufe verstanden und verhandelt wird." (Autorenreferat)
Inhalt: "To investigate the relationship between careers and gender, this article takes a genderfocused look at the normative requirements and career-relevant orientation which prove to be important as young women seek vocational orientation and plan their lives. Here ideas about 'pursuing a career' or being a 'career woman' can be understood as prestructured by normative discourses within which certain concepts of 'career' become dominant and have to be updated and adapted by the subjects. Normative requirements already frame the subjects' plans before they begin their working lives, and not only become relevant once they have embarked on a career and gained a certain amount of work experience. In light of this fact, the article shows how 'career' is understood and negotiated in group discussions with young women in the senior years of secondary school." (author's abstract)
Schlagwörter:Familie-Beruf; work-family balance; Berufsorientierung; vocational guidance; woman; Poststrukturalismus; post-structuralism; Lebensperspektive; life perspective; Lebensplanung; life planning; Karriere; career; gender-specific factors; Ungleichheit; inequality; Federal Republic of Germany
SSOAR Kategorie:Berufsforschung, Berufssoziologie, Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung
Risky undertakings: the employment decision-making of women lawyers and accountants
Titelübersetzung:Riskante Unternehmungen: Arbeitsentscheidungen von Juristinnen und Wirtschaftsprüferinnen
Autor/in:
Narcisse, Denise Ann
Quelle: Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 12 (2011) 2, 24 S
Inhalt: In dieser Studie wird, ausgehend von Interviews mit Juristinnen und Wirtschaftsprüferinnen, das Konzept der Risikovermeidung genutzt, um zu verstehen, warum und in welcher Weise einige der Frauen sich für eine Tätigkeit in einem staatlichen Arbeitsumfeld entschieden haben: Zusammengefasst spielten für diese Entscheidungen insbesondere wahrgenommene Konflikte zwischen Berufs- und Privatleben, ökonomische Unsicherheiten und der geringere Schutz vor willkürlichen Arbeitgeberentscheidungen im nicht-öffentlichen Sektor als potenzielle Risikofaktoren eine herausgehobene Rolle. Die Studie leistet einen Beitrag zum bisherigen Forschungsstand, indem sie das Konzept der Risikovermeidung bei Arbeitsentscheidungen vor dem Hintergrund des Konfliktes zwischen Berufs- und Privatleben und mit Blick auf spezifische Klassenlagen entfaltet und nachvollziehbar macht, wie Frauen eine solche Präferenz im Falle privilegierter White-Collar-Berufe vollziehen.
Inhalt: This study uses the concept of risk avoidance to analyze responses from in-depth interviews with a group of women lawyers and accountants about their employment decision-making in order to provide a deeper understanding of why and how some women come to choose government employment over private-sector employment. An analysis of interviews reveals that some women perceived work-family conflict, economic precariousness, and fewer protections against employers' arbitrary decision-making as potential risks associated with private-sector employment. To reduce these risks, some women "chose" to work in government rather than in the private sector. This study contributes to existing literature by identifying risk avoidance in employment decision-making as a response to work-family conflict and social class constraints and by illustrating why and how this risk avoidance occurs among some women in elite white-collar professions.
Wissenschaft und Geschlecht: Karrieren und Barrieren auf dem Weg an die Spitze ; Fachtagung in Hamburg vom 18.–19. Februar 2010
Titelübersetzung:Science and gender: careers and barriers on the way to the top ; expert conference in Hamburg, 18–19 February 2010
Autor/in:
Kriszio, Marianne
Quelle: GENDER - Zeitschrift für Geschlecht, Kultur und Gesellschaft, 2 (2010) 2, S 139–145
Inhalt: "Auf der Tagung präsentierten sich 7 empirische Forschungsprojekte, die vom BMBF im Programm 'Frauen an die Spitze' gefördert werden, und stellten sich der Diskussion. Themen waren: Karrieren von Dual-Career-Paaren, räumliche, auch internationale Mobilität, Entscheidung von WissenschaftlerInnen für oder gegen Kinder, Vereinbarkeitsbedingungen für diejenigen, die sich für Kinder entschieden haben, Karrierebedingungen in der fachärztlichen Weiterbildung, Verbleib in der Wissenschaft nach der Promotion, Effekte der Exzellenz-Initiative für Frauen in den dort geförderten Bereichen. Die Ergebnisse brachten zahlreiche neue Details und Facetten zur Situation von Frauen in der Wissenschaft." (Autorenreferat)
Inhalt: "In the conference 'Scholarship and Gender: Careers and Barriers on the Way to the Top' at Hamburg, 18–19 February 2010, seven empirical research projects were presented and discussed that are financed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research within the programme 'Women to the Top'. Topics were: careers of dual career couples; geographic mobility, including international mobility; the decision for or against having children; working conditions and career perspectives of academics with children; academic education of medical specialist; women and men staying in or leaving academia after the PhD; effects of the 'excellence initiative' for women in those institutions that benefit from this programme. The results confirmed existing knowledge on women in academia and presented a lot of new details." (author's abstract)
Schlagwörter:woman; Karriere; career; Führungskraft; executive; Dual Career Couple; dual career couple; Berufsmobilität; occupational mobility; Familie-Beruf; work-family balance; Kinderwunsch; desire for children; Wissenschaftlerin; female scientist; Arzt; physician; Weiterbildung; further education; Chancengleichheit; equal opportunity; gender-specific factors; Akademikerin; academic (female); Arbeitsverhältnis; employment relationship; Berufsverlauf; job history; Hochschulpolitik; university policy; Geschlechterverhältnis; gender relations
SSOAR Kategorie:Berufsforschung, Berufssoziologie, Bildungswesen tertiärer Bereich, Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung