Working for Gender Equality in the Neoliberal Academia: Between Theory and Practice
Main Article Content
Barbara Poggio
Abstract
In this executive letter, Barbara Poggio reports her experience as vice-rector of equality and diversity at the University of Trento (Italy), emphasizing the issue of gender asymmetries and the current challenges in the academic environment. The text results from a lecture at the Faculty of Business at the University of Lakehead (Canada) in June 2021. The letter’s purpose is to draw attention to the implication that the predominantly male academic environment has important implications for working conditions and quality of life. In addition, it highlights the impact of the current academic transformation and the affirmation of the neoliberal agenda, emphasizing performativity, excellence, and competition, and the implication in terms of increasing precariousness.
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How to Cite
Poggio, B. (2022). Working for Gender Equality in the Neoliberal Academia: Between Theory and Practice. Journal of Contemporary Administration, 26(Sup. 1), e220014. https://doi.org/10.1590/1982-7849rac2022220014.en
Section
Executive Letters
Since mid-February of 2023, the authors retain the copyright relating to their article and grant the journal RAC, from ANPAD, the right of first publication, with the work simultaneously licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0), as stated in the article’s PDF document. This license provides that the article published can be shared (allows you to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format) and adapted (allows you to remix, transform, and create from the material for any purpose, even commercial) by anyone.
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References
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Barnett, R. (2003). Beyond all reason: Living with ideology in the university. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Benschop, Y., & Brouns, M. (2003). Crumbling ivory towers: Academic organizing and its gender effects. Gender, Work and Organization, 10(2), 194–212. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0432.t01-1-00011
Bertolini, S., & Poggio, B. (2022). Research handbook on work-life balance: Emerging issues and methodological challenges. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Bird, S. R. (2011). Unsettling universities’ incongruous, gendered bureaucratic structures: A case study approach. Gender, Work & Organization, 18(2), 202-230. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0432.2009.00510.x
Blackwell, L., & Glover, J. (2008). Women’s scientific employment and family formation: A longitudinal perspective. Gender, Work and Organization, 15(6), 579-599. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0432.2007.00385.x
Bruni, A., Gherardi, S., & Poggio, B. (2005). Gender and entrepreneurship: An ethnographic approach. London: Routledge.
Coser, L. A. (1974). Greedy institutions: Patterns of undivided commitment. New York: The Free Press.
Court, S., & Kinman, G. (2008). Tackling stress in higher education. London: University and College Union.
Currie, J., Harris, P., & Thiele, B. (2000). Sacrifices in greedy universities: Are they gendered? Gender and Education, 12(3), 269-291. https://doi.org/10.1080/713668305
Dean, D. J., & Fleckenstein, A. (2007). Keys to success for women in science. In R. J. Burke & M. C. Mattis (Eds.), Women and minorities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics: Upping the numbers (Chap. 2, pp. 28–46). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781847206879.00009
Deem, R. (1998). New managerialism’ and higher education: The management of performance and cultures in universities in the United Kingdom. International Studies in Sociology of Education, 8(1), 47-70. https://doi.org/10.1080/0962021980020014
Dever, M., Laffan, W., Boreham, P., Behrens, K., Haynes, M., Western, M., & Kubler, M. (2008). Gender differences in early post-PhD employment in Australian Universities: The influence of PhD experience on women’s academic careers: Final report. St Lucia, Qld, Australia: University of Queensland. Retrieved from https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:195512
De Welde, K., & Stepnick, A. (2014). Disrupting the culture of silence: Confronting gender inequality and making change in higher education. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.
European Comission. (2000). Science policies in the European Union: Promoting excellence through mainstreaming gender equality. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities. Retrieved from https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/4d456ad0-abb8-41a2-9d21-dbd5381f1f4c/language-en
European Commission. (2012). Structural change in research institutions: Enhancing excellence, gender equality and efficiency in research and innovation. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.
European Commission. (2021). She figures 2021: Gender in research and innovation. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. Retrieved from https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-law-and-publications/publication-detail/-/publication/67d5a207-4da1-11ec-91ac-01aa75ed71a1
European Research Council (2021, April 22). ERC advanced grants: 209 top researchers awarded over €500m - positive trend for female grantees continues. Retrieved from https://erc.europa.eu/news/erc-2020-advanced-grants-results
European University Association. (2021, March 5). Despite gains, women still highly outnumbered by men as university leaders. Retrieved from https://eua.eu/news/645:despite-gains,-women-still-highly-outnumbered-by-men-as-university-leaders.html
Ferree, M. M., & Zippel, K. (2015). Gender equality in the age of academic capitalism: Cassandra and Pollyanna interpret university restructuring. Social Politics, 22(4), 561-584. https://doi.org/10.1093/sp/jxv039
Gherardi, S., & Poggio, B. (2007). Gendertelling in organizations: Narratives from male-dominated environments. Stockholm: Liber AB.
Grant, L., Kennelly, I., & Ward, K. B. (2000). Revisiting the gender, marriage, and parenthood puzzle in scientific careers. Women’s Studies Quarterly, 28(1-2), 62-85. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/40004446
Guiso, L., Monte, F., Sapienza, P., & Zingales. L. (2009). Culture, gender and math. Science, 320(5880), 1164–1165. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1154094
Heijstra, T. M., Steinthorsdóttir, F. S., & Einarsdóttir, T. (2017). Academic career making and the double-edged role of academic housework. Gender and Education, 29(6), 764-780. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2016.1171825
Hey, V. (2001). The construction of academic time: Sub/contracting academic labour in research. Journal of Education Policy, 16(1), 67-84. https://doi.org/10.1080/02680930010009831
Hochschild, A. (1989). The second shift: Working parents and the revolution at home. New York: Viking Penguin.
Krüger, K., Parellada, M., Samoilovich, D., & Sursock, A. (2018). Governance reforms in European university systems. Dordrecht: Springer.
Le Feuvre, N. (2015). Contextualizing women’s academic careers in cross-national perspective [GA n. 611737]. University of Trento, Trento, Italy. Retrieved from http://garciaproject.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/GARCIA_report_wp3.pdf
Martin, J. (1994). The organization of exclusion: Institutionalisation of sex inequality, gendered faculty jobs and gendered knowledge in organizational theory and research. Organization, 1(2), 401-431. https://doi.org/10.1177/135050849412011
Miller, D. I., Eagly, A. H., & Linn, M. C. (2015). Women’s representation in science predicts national gender-science stereotypes: Evidence from 66 nations Journal of Educational Psychology, 107(3), 631–644. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000005
Murgia, A., & Poggio, B. (2013). Fathers’ stories of resistance and hegemony in organizational cultures. Gender, Work and Organization, 20(4), 413-424. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0432.2012.00592.x
Murgia, A., & Poggio, B. (2018). Gender and precarious research careers: A comparative analysis. London: Routledge.
Musselin, C. (2005). European academic labour markets in transition. Higher Education, 49, 135–154. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-004-2918-2
Poggio, B. (2004a). Mi racconti una storia? Il metodo narrativo nelle scienze sociali. Rome: Carocci.
Poggio, B. (2004b). Casting the ‘other’: Gender citizenship in politicians’ narratives. Journal of Language and Politics, 3(2), 323-343. https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.3.2.09pog
Poggio, B. (2006). Editorial: Outline of a theory of gender practices. Gender, Work & Organization, 13(3), 225-233. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0432.2006.00305.x
Poggio, B. (2018a). Deconstructing and challenging gender orders in organizations through narratives. In R. Bendl, L. Booysen, J. Pringle (Eds.), Research methods on diversity management, equality and inclusion at work (pp. 430-449). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing
Poggio, B. (2018b). Structural changes in higher education in the neoliberal age. Insight from Connell’s theory. In J. W. Messerschmidt, M. A. Messner, R. Connell, P. Y. Martin (Eds.), Gender reckonings: New social theory and research (pp. 234-260). New York: New York University Press.
Poggio, B. (2020). Se il virus non è democratico. Squilibri di genere nella pandemia. Sociologie, 1(1), 37-50. https://doi.org/10.53119/SE.2020.1.04
Squazzoni, F., Bravo, G., Grimaldo, F., GarcÃa-Costa, D., Farjam, M., & Mehmani, B. (2021). Gender gap in journal submissions and peer review during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. A study on 2329 Elsevier journals. PLoS ONE, 16(10), e0257919. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257919
Thornton, M. (2014). The changing gender regime in the neoliberal legal academy. Zeischrift für Rechtssoziologie (The German Journal of Law and Society), 33(2), 235-251.
Van den Brink, M., & Benschop, Y. (2012) Gender practices in the construction of academic excellence: Sheep with five legs. Organization, 19(4), 507-524. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350508411414293
Van den Brink, M., & Benschop, Y. (2014). Gender in academic networking: The role of gatekeepers in professorial recruitment. Journal of Management Studies, 51(3), 460-492.
Van Langen, A., Bosker, R., & Dekkers, H. (2006). Exploring cross-national differences in gender gaps in education. Educational Research and Evaluation, 12(2), 155-177. https://doi.org/10.1080/13803610600587016
Ward, M. E. (2000). Gender and promotion in the academic profession. Scottish Journal of Political Economy, 48(3), 283-302. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9485.00199
Xie, Y., & Shauman, A. (2003). Women in science: Career processes and outcomes. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Ylijoki, O-H., & Ursin, J. (2013). The construction of academic identity in the changes of Finnish higher education. Studies in Higher Education, 38(8), 1135–1149. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2013.833036
Bagilhole, B., & Goode, J. (2001). The contradiction of the myth of individual merit and the reality of a patriarchal support system in academic careers: A feminist investigation. European Journal of Women’s Studies, 8(2), 161-180. https://doi.org/10.1177/135050680100800203
Barnett, R. (2003). Beyond all reason: Living with ideology in the university. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Benschop, Y., & Brouns, M. (2003). Crumbling ivory towers: Academic organizing and its gender effects. Gender, Work and Organization, 10(2), 194–212. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0432.t01-1-00011
Bertolini, S., & Poggio, B. (2022). Research handbook on work-life balance: Emerging issues and methodological challenges. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Bird, S. R. (2011). Unsettling universities’ incongruous, gendered bureaucratic structures: A case study approach. Gender, Work & Organization, 18(2), 202-230. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0432.2009.00510.x
Blackwell, L., & Glover, J. (2008). Women’s scientific employment and family formation: A longitudinal perspective. Gender, Work and Organization, 15(6), 579-599. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0432.2007.00385.x
Bruni, A., Gherardi, S., & Poggio, B. (2005). Gender and entrepreneurship: An ethnographic approach. London: Routledge.
Coser, L. A. (1974). Greedy institutions: Patterns of undivided commitment. New York: The Free Press.
Court, S., & Kinman, G. (2008). Tackling stress in higher education. London: University and College Union.
Currie, J., Harris, P., & Thiele, B. (2000). Sacrifices in greedy universities: Are they gendered? Gender and Education, 12(3), 269-291. https://doi.org/10.1080/713668305
Dean, D. J., & Fleckenstein, A. (2007). Keys to success for women in science. In R. J. Burke & M. C. Mattis (Eds.), Women and minorities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics: Upping the numbers (Chap. 2, pp. 28–46). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781847206879.00009
Deem, R. (1998). New managerialism’ and higher education: The management of performance and cultures in universities in the United Kingdom. International Studies in Sociology of Education, 8(1), 47-70. https://doi.org/10.1080/0962021980020014
Dever, M., Laffan, W., Boreham, P., Behrens, K., Haynes, M., Western, M., & Kubler, M. (2008). Gender differences in early post-PhD employment in Australian Universities: The influence of PhD experience on women’s academic careers: Final report. St Lucia, Qld, Australia: University of Queensland. Retrieved from https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:195512
De Welde, K., & Stepnick, A. (2014). Disrupting the culture of silence: Confronting gender inequality and making change in higher education. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.
European Comission. (2000). Science policies in the European Union: Promoting excellence through mainstreaming gender equality. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities. Retrieved from https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/4d456ad0-abb8-41a2-9d21-dbd5381f1f4c/language-en
European Commission. (2012). Structural change in research institutions: Enhancing excellence, gender equality and efficiency in research and innovation. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.
European Commission. (2021). She figures 2021: Gender in research and innovation. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. Retrieved from https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-law-and-publications/publication-detail/-/publication/67d5a207-4da1-11ec-91ac-01aa75ed71a1
European Research Council (2021, April 22). ERC advanced grants: 209 top researchers awarded over €500m - positive trend for female grantees continues. Retrieved from https://erc.europa.eu/news/erc-2020-advanced-grants-results
European University Association. (2021, March 5). Despite gains, women still highly outnumbered by men as university leaders. Retrieved from https://eua.eu/news/645:despite-gains,-women-still-highly-outnumbered-by-men-as-university-leaders.html
Ferree, M. M., & Zippel, K. (2015). Gender equality in the age of academic capitalism: Cassandra and Pollyanna interpret university restructuring. Social Politics, 22(4), 561-584. https://doi.org/10.1093/sp/jxv039
Gherardi, S., & Poggio, B. (2007). Gendertelling in organizations: Narratives from male-dominated environments. Stockholm: Liber AB.
Grant, L., Kennelly, I., & Ward, K. B. (2000). Revisiting the gender, marriage, and parenthood puzzle in scientific careers. Women’s Studies Quarterly, 28(1-2), 62-85. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/40004446
Guiso, L., Monte, F., Sapienza, P., & Zingales. L. (2009). Culture, gender and math. Science, 320(5880), 1164–1165. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1154094
Heijstra, T. M., Steinthorsdóttir, F. S., & Einarsdóttir, T. (2017). Academic career making and the double-edged role of academic housework. Gender and Education, 29(6), 764-780. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2016.1171825
Hey, V. (2001). The construction of academic time: Sub/contracting academic labour in research. Journal of Education Policy, 16(1), 67-84. https://doi.org/10.1080/02680930010009831
Hochschild, A. (1989). The second shift: Working parents and the revolution at home. New York: Viking Penguin.
Krüger, K., Parellada, M., Samoilovich, D., & Sursock, A. (2018). Governance reforms in European university systems. Dordrecht: Springer.
Le Feuvre, N. (2015). Contextualizing women’s academic careers in cross-national perspective [GA n. 611737]. University of Trento, Trento, Italy. Retrieved from http://garciaproject.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/GARCIA_report_wp3.pdf
Martin, J. (1994). The organization of exclusion: Institutionalisation of sex inequality, gendered faculty jobs and gendered knowledge in organizational theory and research. Organization, 1(2), 401-431. https://doi.org/10.1177/135050849412011
Miller, D. I., Eagly, A. H., & Linn, M. C. (2015). Women’s representation in science predicts national gender-science stereotypes: Evidence from 66 nations Journal of Educational Psychology, 107(3), 631–644. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000005
Murgia, A., & Poggio, B. (2013). Fathers’ stories of resistance and hegemony in organizational cultures. Gender, Work and Organization, 20(4), 413-424. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0432.2012.00592.x
Murgia, A., & Poggio, B. (2018). Gender and precarious research careers: A comparative analysis. London: Routledge.
Musselin, C. (2005). European academic labour markets in transition. Higher Education, 49, 135–154. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-004-2918-2
Poggio, B. (2004a). Mi racconti una storia? Il metodo narrativo nelle scienze sociali. Rome: Carocci.
Poggio, B. (2004b). Casting the ‘other’: Gender citizenship in politicians’ narratives. Journal of Language and Politics, 3(2), 323-343. https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.3.2.09pog
Poggio, B. (2006). Editorial: Outline of a theory of gender practices. Gender, Work & Organization, 13(3), 225-233. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0432.2006.00305.x
Poggio, B. (2018a). Deconstructing and challenging gender orders in organizations through narratives. In R. Bendl, L. Booysen, J. Pringle (Eds.), Research methods on diversity management, equality and inclusion at work (pp. 430-449). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing
Poggio, B. (2018b). Structural changes in higher education in the neoliberal age. Insight from Connell’s theory. In J. W. Messerschmidt, M. A. Messner, R. Connell, P. Y. Martin (Eds.), Gender reckonings: New social theory and research (pp. 234-260). New York: New York University Press.
Poggio, B. (2020). Se il virus non è democratico. Squilibri di genere nella pandemia. Sociologie, 1(1), 37-50. https://doi.org/10.53119/SE.2020.1.04
Squazzoni, F., Bravo, G., Grimaldo, F., GarcÃa-Costa, D., Farjam, M., & Mehmani, B. (2021). Gender gap in journal submissions and peer review during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. A study on 2329 Elsevier journals. PLoS ONE, 16(10), e0257919. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257919
Thornton, M. (2014). The changing gender regime in the neoliberal legal academy. Zeischrift für Rechtssoziologie (The German Journal of Law and Society), 33(2), 235-251.
Van den Brink, M., & Benschop, Y. (2012) Gender practices in the construction of academic excellence: Sheep with five legs. Organization, 19(4), 507-524. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350508411414293
Van den Brink, M., & Benschop, Y. (2014). Gender in academic networking: The role of gatekeepers in professorial recruitment. Journal of Management Studies, 51(3), 460-492.
Van Langen, A., Bosker, R., & Dekkers, H. (2006). Exploring cross-national differences in gender gaps in education. Educational Research and Evaluation, 12(2), 155-177. https://doi.org/10.1080/13803610600587016
Ward, M. E. (2000). Gender and promotion in the academic profession. Scottish Journal of Political Economy, 48(3), 283-302. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9485.00199
Xie, Y., & Shauman, A. (2003). Women in science: Career processes and outcomes. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Ylijoki, O-H., & Ursin, J. (2013). The construction of academic identity in the changes of Finnish higher education. Studies in Higher Education, 38(8), 1135–1149. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2013.833036