Event Details

Professor Jo Brewis from Open University will present in this OWT research seminar.

Despite miscarriage being a common form of reproductive loss and one which is attracting increasing public attention, it is neglected in both research and workplace policy and practice. We explore the complex temporality and liminality of miscarriage during employment by drawing on semi-structured interviews with 26 women employed in UK universities, and therefore expanding the existing literature on miscarriages as an organisational concern. More specifically, we add to the sparse scholarship dealing with this neoliberal employment context by amplifying multiple voices, including accounts from both academic and professional services staff. We also contribute to conceptualising liminality in management and organisation studies by emphasising that it can be a distressing experience rather than a chance for creative experimentation, or growth and personal development. We identify three key temporal dynamics: (1) tensions between the miscarrying body and the temporalities of work in higher education; (2) the embodied liminality of missed miscarriages; and (3) the social (il)legitimacy of grief after miscarriage. We conclude by arguing that Swan’s (2017) ‘political listening’ is vital to allow managers – who are often ill-equipped to support employees who have miscarriages – to avoid mis/preconceptions about what these workers feel, want, or need.