Women Sociologists: family, employment / underemployment and unemployment in times of crisis

The balancing, reconciliation, or harmonization between professional and family life, or otherwise the "balancing of life with work," is not only a women's issue, nor is it a problem exclusive to women, but a matter and issue for both genders, connected to "gender relations." At the same time, it is not a matter limited to the organization of women's time, who are expected to manage it in such a way that they can fulfill their roles as workers as well as those responsible for family care. The empirical study of the reconciliation of professional and family life usually focuses on women, since in practice, it is primarily they who are expected to find ways to combine their multiple roles and meet their work and family obligations, even in cases where partners or spouses share many of the "burdens" of the household and family.

Research on the "reconciliation" of work and family life among unemployed or underemployed female sociologists presents a contradiction: these women, at the time of the interview, as unemployed, do not have a professional life, or due to limited employment, have few professional obligations. Therefore, the investigation needed to cover three aspects of their employment status in relation to their role in the family and their family obligations: their previous work experience for those who had worked in the past, the difficulty of entering or re-entering the labor market in the case of sporadic or occasional employment, and the loss of employment or the inability to find work, possibly due to the difficulty of combining their professional life with family responsibilities.

However, we believe that all of the above should also be viewed within the context of the relatively recent institutionalization of sociological studies and the sociology profession in our country, as well as in connection with the "value" of these specific studies and the corresponding degree in the Greek labor market. As we have argued, studies in sociology are often completed with a "weak degree" that does not lead to a specific profession. Especially for those who only complete the first cycle of studies, since these studies do not provide graduates with specific "expertise," they often lead to positions that do not require specialized knowledge, such as non-specialized positions in the state administration. Thus, it appears that the majority of sociology graduates in our country have never worked in fields related to sociology (researcher, sociology teacher in secondary education, etc.) and are employed in administrative positions in the public and private sectors, in various office jobs, or engage in work completely unrelated to their specific studies. Our research was based on the hypothesis that female sociologists try to combine professional, personal, and family life starting from a "disadvantaged" position compared to graduates from other fields of study, and that their underemployment is linked to their specific studies in sociology. Furthermore, the recent economic crisis seems to have worsened the conditions for this professional group, as it affected the most "vulnerable" groups of workers, such as the female sociologists we encountered, who often found part-time work, either teaching private foreign language lessons or participating in various ESPA programs with short-term contracts. These jobs dramatically decreased during the recent economic crisis.

Thus, we attempted to investigate how these women combined or combine professional, personal, and family life, as well as the specific difficulties and problems they face in finding work while simultaneously meeting their family obligations. We also focused on the support they receive in this effort from their family environment, the need for assistance from social protection structures, and the "distribution" of family burdens between spouses. Finally, we sought to highlight the consequences of the economic crisis, both in terms of the ability of female sociologists to integrate or reintegrate into the labor market and the changes in their lives caused by the economic crisis that has plagued the country.