Academic Work, Gender and Family in Brazil: Time Experience Among Social Scientists

This research examines the notions of time and work time. Aims at understanding how this element is experienced in the flexible contemporary society after the introduction of new information and communication technologies (ICT), focusing on gender issues. It analysis the impacts of the introduction of these tools in work processes and in daily life’s time dynamics by examining the concepts of clock time and network time, the increase and the speed of information circulation, the general feeling of ‘race against time’ and the special impact on women. The study focuses on a particular professional group, i.e. faculty members of social science graduate programmes. It examines the introduction of ICTs in their work processes and concentrates on the impacts of graduate courses assessment systems in their perceptions of their routines, work time, and of the construction of knowledge in their research area. In terms of methods, this study is based on semi-structured interviews and uses data available on graduate programmes. It also uses statistical data gathered from the Lattes CVs of faculty members’ from seven graduate programmes. It is assumed that there are multiple experiences of time that go beyond chronometric time, specially among women who needs to share their time between family responsibilities and career. In this sense, the present work analyses the subjective perception of time among social scientists taking into consideration, beyong gender, other variables such as career and generation. Being time a value resource with potential conflicts in terms of allocation and use, it is examined how these characteristics create inequalities between women and men’ time experience. With a view to considering the contemporary debate on gender, issues related to how to manage family life and work are also taken into consideration and the sexual division of labour and its impact on men and women’s time experiences are also examined.