ABSTRACT

The rise of neoliberal governance in the higher education sector and the growing demands that the values of equality be institutionally embedded represent two potentially conflicting trends. In this context, the steady deployment of a neoliberal agenda to organizations has come to interfere with the work–life balance. Whereas the demands of the neoliberal university rely upon a hegemonic work-centric model that can affect academics irrespective of gender, women are more likely to experience work–life conflict and its associated impacts. This article focuses on how work–life conflict has been studied with three main objectives. First, to map the challenges of combining work and private life in the neoliberalised university. Second, to conduct a systematic review of the literature on work–life balance in academia. Third, to discuss findings and limitations in order to propose research recommendations. As the COVID-19 pandemic raises new and specific challenges to work–life balance, more gender inclusive and theoretically informed studies are needed to tackle the blind spots found here.

摘要

高等教育部门新自由主义治理的兴起以及对平等价值观在制度上嵌入的日益增长的要求代表了两种潜在的冲突趋势。在这种情况下，新自由主义议程向组织的稳步部署已经开始干扰工作与生活的平衡。新自由主义大学的需求依赖于一种以工作为中心的霸权模式，这种模式可以影响学术，而不论性别，女性更有可能经历工作与生活的冲突及其相关影响。本文重点介绍如何通过三个主要目标来研究工作-生活冲突。首先，描绘在新自由主义大学中结合工作和私人生活的挑战。其次，对学术界有关工作与生活平衡的文献进行系统回顾。第三，讨论发现和局限性，以提出研究建议。由于 COVID-19 大流行对工作与生活的平衡提出了新的具体挑战，因此需要更多的性别包容性和理论上知情的研究来解决这里发现的盲点。