From Ibuism to Pengabdian? Exploring Invisible Work among Women Academics in Neoliberalised Indonesian Higher Education

Abstract

This study seeks to understand how invisible work is understood and experienced by Indonesian women academics within a neoliberal and bureaucratised higher-education system. Using poststructural feminist discourse analysis, we critically analysed selected social media content, identifying the dominant discourse around the ideal woman academic. This was followed by interviews with a selected group of women academics to understand their lived experiences. Our findings indicate that this idealisation is both cultural and historical, linked to the state’s longstanding gender ideology of ibuism, which positions women as appendages to their husbands and mothers to their children, and the notion of pengabdian, or selfless service work. As a result, women academics often shoulder the burden of what we call bureaucratic housework. Additionally, the study explores how women academics navigate, negotiate, and resist the dominant discourse of the ideal woman academic within the context of the three pillars of higher education in Indonesia: teaching, research, and community service. This research contributes to understanding the impact of the neoliberalisation of higher education by discussing the lives of women academics in contemporary Indonesia.