I'm hoping to go on to do my dissertation and become a Master of the Universe... sorry, a Master of Science. I'm not sure how scientific 'housing practice' is really - it's more a social than a pure science.
Currently I'm really interested in how employers allow people to balance work and life, and more importantly, why, and what effect this has on people. And, looking at it from a gender perspective, what effect does it have on the ability for men and women to achieve equality? Mostly women take up flexible working options - that's because mostly, caring work falls to women. Does this marginalise women by presenting them as collectively less committed to work? Are work-life balance policies going to change much while men tend to earn more than women, making it economically more viable in dual-income heterosexual couples for women to reduce their hours? Why is it assumed that women will drop everything to pick up a sick child? Is it becoming more acceptable for men to take paternity leave or reduce their hours? To what extent is it possible to have equality when it is women who do the pregnancy and labour thing? What does 'equality' look like anyway?
I love looking at things from a gender perspective...
7 comments:
Interesting questions Squeak. My work is fairly good in allowing me flexibility to look after my daughter, although I have never pushed it to see. But if I need to take her to school or pick her up, or stay at home to look after her it is usually OK (depending on which meetings I ahve that day). But the person earning the most also has to "guard" their job the most, so that does affect how siutuations are handled.
As to work-life balance. I think it is one of those throw away terms. Employers all say it is important, they stress to you that you must make sure you get the work-life balance right, but at the same time they reduce the head count and increase the workload making it harder and harder to get the balance right. For emplyers the most important thing is that you get the work done. Life comes after.
Yes, I think companies largely offer work-life policies to make them a more attractive employer and to aid retention and to help people fit their lives around work for the benefit of the company. But companies tend to look for the business case - that's where their interests lie, I suppose. I wonder if it is different in co-operatives?
The reduced headcount is all part of the drive towards efficiency. I do understand that companies want to cut costs and get as much work as possible out of their staff, but the problem is that it becomes counterproductive eventually and I'm not sure managers are always good at recognising that point - the work may be getting done, but is it really getting done well? Are staff happy?
Men oppress women. Until men and women live in seperate societies, we'll never have equality.
(Thought i'd throw in a radical feminist viewpoint!)
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=equality&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2
And thats what equality looks like btw...
That is a fairly basic radical feminist viewpoint. But I would argue that men and women are more similar than they are different, and that there is a lot of diversity within groups of men and groups of women. I would rather we aimed for a day when we can all be treated as people, rather than aiming for separate societies.
That's right Zoe, I personally opress all women.
Sorry.
That's right, Rexor, if by 'oppress' you mean 'do the majority of the housework' and by 'all women' you mean 'SarahContrary'. Otherwise, I'm not sure your claim is valid.
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