Should I stay or should I go? The effects of precariousness on the gendered career aspirations of postdocs in Switzerland

The assumption that men are more likely to undertake and succeed in an academic career, because the requirements of professional success in this occupation are compatible with normative gender assumptions, particularly that of fulfilling a ‘male breadwinner’ or main household earner role, implying r...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European educational research journal EERJ 2017-05, Vol.16 (2-3), p.313-331
Main Authors: Bataille, Pierre, Le Feuvre, Nicky, Kradolfer Morales, Sabine
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
College Faculty
Doctoral Degrees
Economic Factors
Employment Qualifications
Family Work Relationship
Foreign Countries
Gender Differences
Gender studies
Graduate Study
Humanities and Social Sciences
Interviews
Labor Market
Qualitative Research
Sex Role
Skilled Workers
Social Attitudes
Socioeconomic Influences
Sociology
Surveys
Unemployment
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Summary:The assumption that men are more likely to undertake and succeed in an academic career, because the requirements of professional success in this occupation are compatible with normative gender assumptions, particularly that of fulfilling a ‘male breadwinner’ or main household earner role, implying reduced domestic and care commitments, is discussed. It is suggested that Switzerland offers a particularly interesting case for this study, because of the combination of the specific structure of academic careers, the characteristics of the non-academic labour market and the dominant gender regime. It is shown that, in this particular context, the aspirations of postdocs to remain in academic employment or to look for non-academic jobs are directly related to their position within the domestic division of labour and to their personal and family circumstances. However, this does not necessarily lead to a clear-cut divide between work-committed men, who ‘succeed’ (and hence stay), and care-committed women who ‘fail’ to climb up the academic career ladder (and hence leave). The results suggest that the situation is more complex and requires a subtle distinction between different ideal-types of post-doctoral experiences that do not always cut neatly across gender lines.
ISSN:1474-9041
1474-9041
DOI:10.1177/1474904116673372