Description
Often in academia, women and minorities are held to a higher standard in how they present themselves (caring, empathetic) and how they manage the emotions of colleagues and students. The emotional labour that is expected of them is well documented. In this paper, I develop a new concept to address the emotional labour of diversity workers: Responsive Diversity Work. I summarize Carla Fehr’s view of the epistemic diversity worker, develop a theory of emotional labour, and explain how the responsive diversity worker, in virtue of the unfair emotional labour expected of her, is at great risk of mental health issues.
Keywords
diversity worker, emotional labour, epistemic diversity work, ‘free riding’, responsive diversity work, responsive diversity worker
Included in
The Responsive Diversity Worker: Emotional Labour in Academia
Often in academia, women and minorities are held to a higher standard in how they present themselves (caring, empathetic) and how they manage the emotions of colleagues and students. The emotional labour that is expected of them is well documented. In this paper, I develop a new concept to address the emotional labour of diversity workers: Responsive Diversity Work. I summarize Carla Fehr’s view of the epistemic diversity worker, develop a theory of emotional labour, and explain how the responsive diversity worker, in virtue of the unfair emotional labour expected of her, is at great risk of mental health issues.