Unravelling structures of parental and childfree (dis)advantage

Challenging the marginalisation of the childfree experience in the management and organisation studies literature, this study examines the inequality mechanisms generated by the way in which norms of neoliberal workplace productivity and parental normativity interact in relation to childfreeness at work. Based on 21 interviews conducted via an insider approach, the findings of this study reveal how the (interaction of) various ethical frameworks that are reflected in acts of giving an account bring certain moral parenting and childfree subjects into being, while constraining the emergence of others as viable subjects. Whereas extant studies have provided insights into parental structures of disadvantage and (to a limited extent) childfree privilege in relation to ideal worker notions of the unencumbered employee without (child)care responsibilities, this study advances our knowledge through its focus on social relations of moral accountability. The analysis of this study unravels so far largely ignored forms of parental privilege and childfree disadvantage, while offering a theoretical contribution by extending Butler’s concept into of the heterosexual matrix into the reproductive heterosexual matrix.