Organizational norms of sexual harassment and gender discrimination in Danish academia: From recognizing through contesting to queering pervasive rhetorical legitimation strategies
Autor/in:
Guschke, Bontu Lucie; Just, Sine Nørholm; Muhr, Sara Louise
Quelle: Gend Work Organ (Gender, Work and Organization), (2022)
Inhalt: Studies of sexual harassment in professional contexts, including academia, provide detailed explanations of the predominance and pervasiveness of sexist organizational norms that enable harassing behavior—and offer a thorough critique of the structures and practices that support and reproduce these norms. When sexist organizational norms are linked to acts of sexual harassment, it becomes clear that harassment is systemic, and that organizations tend to justify and excuse the very norms and behaviors that propagate harassment. Focusing on the context of Danish universities, we do not ask whether sexism exists in Danish society generally and in academia specifically, but rather, why issues of systemic sexism and normalized sexual harassment have been ignored for so long and how sexist organizational norms have been maintained. Based on an investigation of prevalent rhetorical strategies for legitimating sexual harassment and gendered discrimination, we discuss how recognizing these strategies may translate into concerted action against them. Introducing queer organization studies as a lever for such translation, we suggest that a norm-critical approach may, first, explain how currently dominant norms offer sexist excuses for continued harassment and, consequently, delegitimize and change these unjust norms and the untenable practices they support.
Sexual Harassment and Coercion in German Academia: A large-Scale Survey Study
Autor/in:
Hoebel, Merle; Durglishvili, Ana; Reinold, Johanna; Leising, Daniel
Quelle: Sexual Offending: Theory, Research, and Prevention, (2022) 17
Inhalt: We surveyed a large sample (N = 6,217) of students and employees at a German university
regarding their experiences as (potential) targets of sexual harassment and/or coercion (SH/C).
Participants were asked specific questions depending on whether they had been targets of SH/C
themselves, knew someone who had been affected or said they had no such experiences. Pre-
registered analyses showed that women were assumed to become targets more often, and actually
did become targets much more often (26.7%) than did males (4.7%; odds ratio: 7.45). Men more often
had no first- or second-hand knowledge of any SH/C incidents (odds ratio: 1.75). Contrary to what
participants assumed they would do if they became targets, only a very small percentage of such
experiences were actually reported using the available channels. Most participants who
experienced but did not report SH/C said they did not expect that doing so would lead to any
consequences. Greater offence severity was associated with a stronger wish to avoid emotional
distress by not reporting. Furthermore, reporting often times did not lead to any significant
consequences in the majority of cases. Complaint systems against sexual harassment and coercion
in academia may be largely dysfunctional. Practical implications are discussed.
Schlagwörter:binary; sexual harassment; university
Inhalt: To obtain a more complete understanding of the persisting gender earnings gap in Germany, this paper investigates both the cross-sectional and biographical dimension of gender inequalities. Using an Oaxaca Blinder decomposition, we show that the gender gap in annual earnings is largely driven by women’s lower work experience and intensive margin of labor supply. Based on a dynamic microsimulation model, we then estimate how gender differences accumulate over work lives to account for the biographical dimension of the gender gap. We observe an average gender lifetime earnings gap of 51.5 percent for birth cohorts 1964-1972. We show that this unadjusted gender lifetime earnings gap increases strongly with the number of children, ranging from 17.8 percent for childless women to 68.0 percent for women with three or more children. However, using a counterfactual analysis we find that the adjusted gender lifetime earnings gap of 10 percent differs only slightly by women’s family background.
Free to Be Me? Evolving Gender Expression and the Dynamic Interplay between Authenticity and the Desire to Be Accepted at Work
Autor/in:
Hennekam, Sophie; Ladge, Jamie J.
Quelle: AMJ (Academy of Management Journal), (2022)
Inhalt: This study examines how the gender expression of transgender individuals evolves as they transition in the context of work. We draw from interviews with 25 transgender employees conducted at four points in time over a two-year period as they initiate, perform, and continue their gender transition. Contributing to the literature on authenticity and identity transitions, our findings challenge the assumptions that individuals know how to express an authentic self and that authenticity has an endpoint by pointing to the evolving and relational nature of authenticity that involves a trial-and-error approach in which transgender individuals learn to become authentic as they engage in various forms of gender performativity. Further, we position authenticity as a continuum, as individuals may temper their gender expression to elicit acceptance and express a gender that feels “authentic enough” as they contend with the impact of prevailing gender norms and expectations in the workplace. Finally, the findings suggest that the identity transition process evolves in a non-linear way and involves a dynamic interplay between the desire to express one’s gender in a way that feels authentic and the desire to feel accepted by others.
Schlagwörter:gender identity; non-binary; trans people
Using Mixed Methods Integration to Evaluate the Structure of Help-Seeking Barriers Scale: A Survivor-Centered Approach
Autor/in:
Thorvaldsdottir, Karen Birna; Halldorsdottir, Sigridur; Saint Arnault, Denise M.
Quelle: International journal of environmental research and public health, 19 (2022) 7
Inhalt: Despite the high prevalence of adverse health and trauma-related outcomes associated with intimate partner violence (IPV), help-seeking and service utilization among survivors is low. This study is part of a larger mixed-methods and survivor-centered validation study on the Icelandic Barriers to Help-Seeking for Trauma (BHS-TR) scale, a new barriers measure focused on trauma recovery. A mixed-methods legitimation strategy of integration was employed to evaluate the BHS-TR structure in samples of IPV survivors. The merging of qualitative (n = 17) and quantitative (n = 137) data through a joint display analysis revealed mainly complementarity findings, strengthening the scale's overall trustworthiness and validity evidence. Divergent findings involved items about mistrust, perceived rejection, stigmatization, fearing vulnerability, and safeguarding efforts that were significant help-seeking barriers in the survivors' narratives, whereas factor analysis indicated their removal. These BHS-TR items were critically evaluated in an iterative spiraling process that supported the barriers' influence, illuminated core issues, and guided potential refinements. This work contributes to the growing field of mixed methods instrument validation placing equal status on qualitative and quantitative methods and emphasizing integration to provide more complete insights. Moreover, the study's findings highlight the added value of further exploring divergence between two sets of data and the importance of giving attention to the voices of the target population throughout the validation process.
Schlagwörter:Beschwerdestelle; disclosure; GBV; Gewalt gegen Frauen; Intervention; Maßnahmen; Opfer; scale; Skala; trauma; Validität; validity; victimization; violence; violence against women
Studieren und Menstruieren – geschlechtergerechterer (Hoch-)Schulalltag durch kostenlose Menstruationshygieneartikel : Studie der Gleichstellungsstelle an der Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg 2021/2022
Autor/in:
Hillen, Barbara; Kroheck, Niklas
Quelle: Journal Netzwerk Frauen und Geschlechterforschung NRW, (2022) 50, S 43–50
Schlagwörter:Fachhochschule; Geschlechtergerechte Hochschule; Gleichstellungsmaßnahmen; health; Hochschule; Studentin; Studium
CEWS Kategorie:Studium und Studierende, Gleichstellungspolitik
Inhalt: International mobility in academia can enhance the human and social capital of researchers and consequently their scientific outcome. However, there is still a very limited understanding of the different mobility patterns among scholars with various socio-demographic characteristics. By studying these differences, we can detect inequalities in access to scholarly networks across borders, which can cause disparities in scientific advancement. The aim of this study is twofold. First, we investigate to what extent individuals’ factors (e.g., country, career stage, and field of research) associate with the mobility of male and female researchers. Second, we explore the relationship between mobility and scientific activity and impact. For this purpose, we used a bibliometric approach to track the mobility of authors. To compare the researchers’ scientific outcomes, we considered the number of publications and received citations as indicators, as well as the number of unique co-authors in all their publications. We also analysed the co-authorship network of researchers and compared centrality measures of “mobile” and “nonmobile” researchers. Results show that researchers from North America and Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly female ones, have the lowest, respectively, highest tendency towards international mobility. Having international co-authors increases the probability of international movement. Our findings uncover gender inequality in international mobility across scientific fields and countries. Across genders, researchers in the Physical sciences have the most and in the Social sciences the least rate of mobility. We observed more mobility for Social scientists at the advanced career stage, while researchers in other fields prefer to move at earlier career stages. Also, we found a positive correlation between mobility and scientific outcomes, but no apparent difference between females and males. Indeed, researchers who have started mobility at the advanced career stages had a better scientific outcome. Comparing the centrality of mobile and non-mobile researchers in the co-authorship networks reveals a higher social capital advantage for mobile researchers.
Internationale Mobilität im akademischen Bereich kann das Human- und Sozialkapital von Forschenden und folglich ihre wissenschaftlichen Ergebnisse verbessern. Allerdings ist das Verständnis für die unterschiedlichen Mobilitätsmuster von Wissenschaftler*innen mit verschiedenen soziodemografischen Merkmalen noch sehr begrenzt. Durch die Untersuchung dieser Unterschiede können die Autor*innen Ungleichheiten beim Zugang zu wissenschaftlichen Netzwerken über Grenzen hinweg aufdecken, die zu Ungleichheiten beim wissenschaftlichen Fortschritt führen können. Mit dieser Studie werden zwei Ziele verfolgt. Erstens untersuchen die Autor*innen, inwieweit individuelle Faktoren (z. B. Land, Karrierestufe und Forschungsgebiet) mit der Mobilität von Forscherinnen und Forschern zusammenhängen. Zweitens untersuchen sie den Zusammenhang zwischen Mobilität und wissenschaftlicher Tätigkeit und Wirkung.
Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Forschende aus Nordamerika und Afrika südlich der Sahara, insbesondere Frauen, die geringste bzw. höchste Tendenz zur internationalen Mobilität aufweisen. Die Wahrscheinlichkeit der internationalen Mobilität steigt, wenn man internationale Ko-Autor*innen hat.
Bei den Geschlechtern haben Forschende in den Naturwissenschaften die höchste und in den Sozialwissenschaften die niedrigste Mobilitätsrate.
Schlagwörter:bibliometric analysis; Bibliometrie; Gender; international academic mobility; internationale akademische Mobilität; Mobilität; Region; scopus
CEWS Kategorie:Europa und Internationales, Wissenschaft als Beruf
Gender Inequality in Research Productivity During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Autor/in:
Cui, Ruomeng; Ding, Hao; Zhu, Feng
Quelle: Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, 24 (2022) 2, S 691–1260
Inhalt: Problem definition: We study the disproportionate impact of the lockdown as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak on female and male academic research productivity in social science.
Academic/practical relevance: The lockdown has caused substantial disruptions to academic activities, requiring people to work from home. How this disruption affects productivity and the related gender equity is an important operations and societal question.
Methodology: We collect data from the largest open-access preprint repository for social science on 41,858 research preprints in 18 disciplines produced by 76,832 authors across 25 countries over a span of two years. We use a difference-in-differences approach leveraging the exogenous pandemic shock.
Results: Our results indicate that, in the 10 weeks after the lockdown in the United States, although total research productivity increased by 35%, female academics’ productivity dropped by 13.2% relative to that of male academics. We also show that this intensified productivity gap is more pronounced for assistant professors and for academics in top-ranked universities and is found in six other countries.
Managerial implications: Our work points out the fairness issue in productivity caused by the lockdown, a finding that universities will find helpful when evaluating faculty productivity. It also helps organizations realize the potential unintended consequences that can arise from telecommuting.
Schlagwörter:COVID-19; Gender; inequality; productivity; research
Inhalt: A question asking for respondents’ sex is one of the standard sociodemographic characteristics collected in a survey. Until now, it typically consisted of a simple question (e.g., “Are you…?”) with two answer categories (“male” and “female”). In 2019, Germany implemented the additional sex designation divers for intersex people. In survey methodology, this has led to an ongoing discussion how to include a third category in questionnaires. We investigate respondents’ understanding of the third category, and whether introducing it affects data quality. Moreover, we investigate the understanding of the German term Geschlecht for sex and gender. To answer our research questions, we implemented different question wordings asking for sex/gender in a non-probability-based online panel in Germany and combined them with open-ended questions. Findings and implications for surveys are discussed.
Inhalt: The normalization of gender-based violence (GBV) consists of all those cultural beliefs and values that sustain, justify, or minimize GBV perpetration. Acknowledging the lack of instruments addressing the normalization of GBV and its constitutive sociocultural dimensions, this article presents the conceptual development and initial validation of the Normalization of gender-based violence against women scale. This 18-item instrument could be used to assess the normalization of violence against women in GBV survivors of various cultural contexts. The scale has been developed through a sizeable mixed-methods study. This paper reports the qualitative portion of the study that allowed the development of the instrument and assessment of its content and face validity. In particular, the method section details the process by which the assessed scale’s domain has been identified through an expert panel workshop, the analysis of GBV survivor’s interviews, and the review of existing scales. The assessment of face and content validity, trough expert judges’ evaluation and Cognitive Interviewing, is presented. This instrument is the first normalization scale developed by a multicultural team for use with violence survivors. The techniques used to construct this scale aimed to capture cultural aspects of normalization that might be shared across women from diverse groups. Therefore, its use could enable social or health care providers worldwide to program or evaluate the effectiveness of interventions to contrast GBV by promoting a clearer understanding of cultural and social norms that sustain the acceptance and normalization of violence.
Schlagwörter:GBV; Gewalt gegen Frauen; Island; Messkonzept; Normalisierung; normalization; sexual assault; Skala; survivor experience; Validität; validity