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  • 2016
  • Working Paper
  • HBS Working Paper Series

Explaining the Persistence of Gender Inequality: The Work-Family Narrative as a Social Defense Against the 24/7 Work Culture

By: Irene Padavic, Robin J. Ely and Erin M. Reid
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:80
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Abstract

It is widely accepted that the conflict women experience between family obligations and professional jobs’ long hours lies at the heart of their stalled advancement. Yet research suggests that this “work-family narrative” is partial at best: men, too, experience work-family conflict and nevertheless advance; moreover, mitigating the conflict through flexible work policies has done little to improve women’s advancement prospects and often hurts them. Drawing on an in-depth case study of a professional service firm, we offer two connected explanations for the work-family narrative’s persistence. We first present data suggesting that this belief has become a “hegemonic narrative”—a pervasive, status-quo-preserving story that is uncontested, even in the face of countervailing evidence. We then take a systems psychodynamic perspective to show how organizations use this narrative and attendant policies and practices as an unconscious “social defense” to help employees fend off anxieties raised by a 24/7 work culture. Due to the social defense, two beliefs remain unchallenged—the necessity of long work hours and the inescapability of women’s stalled advancement. The result is that women’s thin representation at senior levels remains in place.

Keywords

24/7 Work Culture; Hegemonic Narrative; Social Defense; Work-family Conflict; Systems Psychodynamic Theory; Work-life Balance; Personal Development And Career; Gender; Equality And Inequality; Organizational Culture

Citation

Padavic, Irene, Robin J. Ely, and Erin M. Reid. "Explaining the Persistence of Gender Inequality: The Work-Family Narrative as a Social Defense Against the 24/7 Work Culture." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 17-038, October 2016.
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About The Author

Robin J. Ely

Organizational Behavior
→More Publications

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    My Learning Journey: Seven Turning Points in my Life as a Gender-and-Race Scholar

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    Explaining the Persistence of Gender Inequality: The Work-family Narrative as a Social Defense Against 24/7 Work Culture

    By: Irene Padavic, Robin J. Ely and Erin M. Reid
    • March–April 2020
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    What's Really Holding Women Back? It's Not What Most People Think

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More from the Authors
  • My Learning Journey: Seven Turning Points in my Life as a Gender-and-Race Scholar By: R. Ely
  • Explaining the Persistence of Gender Inequality: The Work-family Narrative as a Social Defense Against 24/7 Work Culture By: Irene Padavic, Robin J. Ely and Erin M. Reid
  • What's Really Holding Women Back? It's Not What Most People Think By: R. Ely and Irene Padavic
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