Gendered Discourses of Work-family Balance: The Limitations of Voluntary Corporate Policy

• In Event: 021 - Regular Session. Gender, Work, and Overwork

Abstract

In response to work-family conflict, feminist sociologists have urged employers to voluntarily redesign their workplaces to promote greater balance, with limited success. This study investigates the limitations of the voluntary corporate approach by exploring the meanings of “balance” held by young professionals working for a multinational oil and gas company. Interviews with early career scientists and engineers reveal stark gender differences. Mothers and prospective mothers describe intense work-family conflict, but they blame themselves and not their employer, and believe that the only way to achieve balance is to leave the company. A number of men, in contrast, express satisfaction with their employer for promoting work-family balance. Yet their narratives reveal that their achievement of balance depends on a traditional gender division of labor in the home. Some men and women define balance as the elision of work and family, or the pursuit of endeavors separate from work and family. Those who are thwarted from these goals absolve their employer from responsibility and express an inclination to exit the industry. These responses are consistent with the hegemonic neoliberal discourse of individual choice promoted by corporations. The study thus exposes the limitations of voluntary corporate policy and suggests the need for an alternative discourse to promote better work-family balance.

Author

• Christine L. Williams, University of Texas at Austin