Despite entering academia earlier with a master’s degree, early career women academics are burdened by precarious financial conditions, overwhelming workloads, job security, and the tension between career and family in the first decade of their career in neoliberalised academia in Indonesia. By appropriating the framework of governmentality, and feminist literature to inform how neoliberalism and patriarchy are connected in governing the academic work of young women, the study highlights the struggles of young women academics who essentially operate as self-entrepreneurs responsible for their sustenance. Rather than giving up and following the game, participants chose to 'play the game'—advocating for alternatives while playing within established academic frameworks. However, the study acknowledges that the participants’ middle and upper-class backgrounds provide them with privileges and resources which enables these alternatives to occur.