Career and work-family relationship among academics : An exploratory study

Despite the increase, in recent years, of women’s participation in the labour market, sex discrimination remains a reality in most work organisations. In this matter, academic organisations are no exception. Evidence of sex inequalities is well documented in the literature. At the individual level, inequalities are partly explained by family responsibilities mainly held by women. Having to spend a considerable amount of time in home and children related activities women are left with less time available for scientific work than their male colleagues. With the purpose of understanding how academics experience the relationship between work and family, 32 in-depth interviews were conducted among Portuguese academics of both sexes in one particular university. The findings confirmed that work-family conflict is stronger among female faculty than among their male counterparts. Additionally, the prejudice against maternity and the way it is compatible with a successful career appears to survive the new gender relations. Difficulties felt by female academics could be minimised by the introduction of «family-friendly» policies and the development of a positive organisational climate towards maternity and family issues.

O equilíbrio entre o trabalho e a vida privada: A adequação das práticas organizacionais às necessidades dos trabalhadores

Dissertação de Mestrado apresentada ao ISPA - Instituto Universitário

Working towards leisure

Expanded individual availability and flexibility is necessary in order to progress in a management career to senior level. If managers owe all their time to the organisation and their work as managers they are left with no time to invest in the management of their private lives. Therefore, it remains unspoken in their management work how they are able to create time and space to enjoy free time during their non-working hours. Managers female partners prepare all the domestic work in the private sphere in order for the manager to enjoy their free time in any leisure activity. The empirical evidence for this argument derives from 64 in-depth interviews with male managers from three European countries (Germany, Portugal, the United Kingdom) working for one large multinational company. These interviews cover the views of a variety of male managers with an age range between 30 and 65 years and, thus, different management positions and life stages. This article explores three different layers of time in male managers work careers: non-working time, free-time and leisure time. It includes the concept of leisure work which enables managers to devote themselves absolutely to whatever they want to do in their non-working time. Therefore combining a professional career and family life for male managers is only a question of balancing their work as male managers and leisure time and not an issue of tension between employment and domestic obligations.

As diferenças de género na percepção do conflito trabalho-família

O crescente interesse na compreensão e na gestão da interface trabalho-família provém das já demonstradas consequências do conflito trabalho-família no bem estar profissional e pessoal e no desempenho dos papéis de trabalho e de família. A participação das mulheres na força de trabalho levou a que combinem as responsabilidades familiares e profissionais. A combinação do papel de trabalho e do papel de família poderá levar ao conflito trabalho-família. A investigação realizada centra-se na forma como os indivíduos manipulam as exigências do trabalho e da família na tentativa de criar modelos de relacionamento e de actividades que sejam gerí- veis. Actualmente, as preocupações dos investigadores vão mais longe e procuram, também, encontrar soluções no local de trabalho que facilitem a conciliação entre o trabalho e a família. O objectivo deste estudo é o de verificar a existência e as diferenças na percepção do conflito trabalho- família entre homens e mulheres. Os dados foram obtidos através de entrevistas a 33 trabalhadores de uma empresa de produtos lácteos.