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Women, Emotional Labor, And Higher Education Administration: A Qualitative Interview Study, Almi Rodriguez

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Emotional labor is not a gender-specific experience. Hochschild (1983) estimated that roughly one-third of American workers encounter substantial emotional labor demands as a result of their occupation. However, this study examined women’s experiences with emotional labor in higher education because women face different expectations of emotional management (Wharton & Erickson, 1993; Hochschild, 1983). Emotions are situated within larger, gendered, and sexualized hierarchies that are reinforced through normalizing discourses and social arrangements that dictate what is normal (Illouz, 2007). Furthermore, power relations shape emotions through sometimes unseen, yet repetitious disciplinary techniques (i.e., emotional norms) that make up the patriarchy; particularly in …