INTRODUCTION: Problematizing the Ideal Worker in Student Affairs

Careers in student affairs can be both rewarding and exhausting. To a great extent, student affairs work depends on employees fulfilling ideal worker norms-the notion that an employee is available to work nonstop without any outside responsibilities. Such assumptions may prove too burdensome, leading employees to depart the profession. The student affairs profession loses a significant percentage of its workforce each year, particularly among those newest to the field. In part, this attrition may be due to poor work conditions. Although the ideal worker is assumed to be genderless, it is a deeply gendered construct, as it relies on typical divisions of labor both inside and outside the home. The ideal worker also has particular implications for student affairs given its status as a feminized field, both in terms of the gender composition of employees and the skills required for success. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.