Should I stay or should I go? The effects of precariousness on the gendered career aspirations of postdocs in Switzerland
Résumé
In this article, we propose to discuss 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 fullling a male breadwinner or main household earner role, implying reduced domestic and care commitments. Switzerland oers a particularly interesting case for this study, because of the combination of the specic structure of academic careers, the characteristics of the non-academic labour market and the dominant gender regime. We will show 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 stay), and care-committed women who "fail" to make it up the academic career ladder (and leave). Our results suggest that the situation is more complex and requires a subtle distinction between dierent ideal-types of post-doctoral experiences that do not always cut neatly across gender lines.
Origine : Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s)
Loading...