Beyond the neoliberalized academy: caring and careful practices of women full professors
Autor/in:
Castelao-Huerta, Isaura
Quelle: Gender and Education, (2022) , S 1–16
Inhalt: This article reveals how some women full professors have developed caring and careful practices with their students despite the neoliberalization of public higher education, thus, avoiding individualization and establishing trust and solidarity. It presents interviews with 24 women full professors from a Colombian public university, an ethnographic study with three of them and nineteen interviews with their students and colleagues. The content analysis of the fieldwork shows that the professors have caring practices, which include rebuscarse to ensure the well-being of the students and providing financial support, as well as careful practices such as intervening to prevent harm and being open to listening. Caring and careful practices of the professors serve to improve the lives of the people that are close to them and to build a much friendlier and more supportive university. However, care activities are complex, undervalued and represent a double burden, which is why modifying university policies is an urgent task.
Schlagwörter:academia; academic care; Care; Ethnographie; higher education; Kolumbien; Latin America; neoliberal university; professor care; Professorin; Solidarität
CEWS Kategorie:Wissenschaft als Beruf, Geschlechterverhältnis
Autor/in:
Ross, Matthew B.; Glennon, Britta M.; Murciano-Goroff, Raviv; Berkes, Enrico G.; Weinberg, Bruce A.; Lane, Julia I.
Quelle: Nature, 608 (2022) 7921, S 135–145
Inhalt: There is a well-documented gap between the observed number of works produced by women and by men in science, with clear consequences for the retention and promotion of women1. The gap might be a result of productivity differences2-5, or it might be owing to women's contributions not being acknowledged6,7. Here we find that at least part of this gap is the result of unacknowledged contributions: women in research teams are significantly less likely than men to be credited with authorship. The findings are consistent across three very different sources of data. Analysis of the first source-large-scale administrative data on research teams, team scientific output and attribution of credit-show that women are significantly less likely to be named on a given article or patent produced by their team relative to their male peers. The gender gap in attribution is present across most scientific fields and almost all career stages. The second source-an extensive survey of authors-similarly shows that women's scientific contributions are systematically less likely to be recognized. The third source-qualitative responses-suggests that the reason that women are less likely to be credited is because their work is often not known, is not appreciated or is ignored. At least some of the observed gender gap in scientific output may be owing not to differences in scientific contribution, but rather to differences in attribution.
Quelle: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG); Bonn (DFG infobrief, 1), 2021.
Inhalt: Seit gut einem Jahr bestimmt das SARS-COV-2 Virus das gesellschaftliche Leben und den beruflichen Alltag. Von den damit verbundenen Einschnitten bleibt auch die akademische Welt nicht unberührt. Befürchtet wird insbesondere, dass durch die Pandemie Wissenschaftlerinnen im Vergleich zu Wissenschaftlern stärker beansprucht werden und weniger Zeit für die Forschung bleibt. Auf lange Sicht besteht die Sorge, dass sich dadurch Karrierehemmnisse für Frauen im Wissenschaftssystem ergeben. Gleichzeitig hat die Pandemie für einen beispiellosen Forschungsschub gesorgt, vor allem für Projekte im Zusammenhang mit Corona. Anlässlich dieser Diskussion werden im vorliegenden Infobrief deskriptive Statistiken aus der DFG-Antragsbearbeitung vorgestellt. Im Mittelpunkt steht dabei die Frage, inwieweit sich im Zeitraum der Coronavirus-Pandemie geschlechtsspezifische Unterschiede im Antrags- und Begutachtungsverhalten bei der DFG erkennen lassen.
Quelle: SI (Social Inclusion), 9 (2021) 3, S 69–80
Inhalt: In this article, we investigate how the globalized academic labor market has changed the composition of teaching and research staff at Swedish, Norwegian, and Finnish universities. We use national statistical data on the gender and country‐origin of universities’ teaching and research staff between 2012 and 2018 to study how the globalized academic labor market has influenced the proportion of women across career stages, with a special focus on STEM fields. We pay special attention to how gender and country‐origin are interrelated in universities’ academic career hierarchies. The findings show that the proportion of foreign‐born teaching and research staff rose substantially at the lower career level (grade C positions) in the 2010s. The increase was more modest among the most prestigious grade A positions, such as professorships. The findings show significant national differences in how gender and country‐origin of staff intersect in Nordic universities. The study contributes to research on the gendered patterns of global academic labor markets and social stratification in Nordic universities.
Some findings among post-docs:
The total number of post-docs increased during the period 2012–2018.
In 2018, the proportion of post-doc women overall was about 45 per cent in Finland and Sweden and 46 per cent in Norway.
In Norway, the proportion of post-doc women fell a bit, from about 48 per cent in 2012 to 46 per cent in 2018.
Among post-docs, the percentages of both foreign men and foreign women increased. For Norway, the combined percentage jumped from 50 per cent to 68 per cent.
The share of foreign men among post-docs in Norway grew from 29 per cent in 2012 to 40 per cent in 2018.
In Sweden, the share of foreign women in post-doc positions climbed from 19 up to 30 per cent. The proportion of Swedish women fell from 27 per cent to 15 per cent. The total proportion of women post-docs dropped by one percentage point.
Some findings among professors:
The proportion of women increased in all three countries and was quite similar.
In 2018, 31 per cent of professors in Norway were women, 27 per cent in Sweden and 28 per cent in Finland.
The percentage of foreign women professors varied across the three countries.
Of all professors in Norway, 8 per cent were foreign women.
Longitudinal analyses of gender differences in first authorship publications related to COVID-19
Autor/in:
Lerchenmüller, Carolin; Schmallenbach, Leo; Jena, Anupam B.; Lerchenmueller, Marc J.
Quelle: BMJ Open, 11 (2021) 4
Inhalt: Objective Concerns have been raised that the COVID-19 pandemic has shifted research productivity to the disadvantage of women in academia, particularly in early career stages. In this study, we aimed to assess the pandemic\textquoterights COVID-19-related research output appears particularly concerning as many disciplines informing the response to the pandemic had near equal gender shares of first authorship in the year prior to the pandemic. The acute productivity drain with the onset of the pandemic magnifies deep-rooted obstacles on the way to gender equity in scientific contribution.All data and source code generated and analysed during the current study can be accessed athttps://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/OOTXIW (Harvard Dataverse).
The Segmentation of the Academic Labour Market and Gender, Field, and Institutional Inequalities
Autor/in:
Vohlídalová, Marta
Quelle: SI (Social Inclusion), 9 (2021) 3, S 163–174
Inhalt: Using data from a 2017 survey of Czech academics this article examines the casualisation of working conditions in the Czech academic labour market (ALM) and explores gender, sectoral, and institutional inequalities through the lens of the theory of labour market segmentation. A hierarchical cluster analysis reveals three segments in the Czech ALM: core (40%), periphery (28%), and semi‐periphery (32%), which roughly align with work positions in the early, middle, and senior stages of an academic career. In the semi‐periphery gender is found to be a key factor in in determining working conditions, while in the periphery working conditions are most affected by the type of institution. In the core, gender differences are mainly reflected in the gender wage gap. The effects of casualisation on working conditions are found to be more pronounced in STEM fields than in the social sciences and humanities across the ALM, but wages are generally higher in STEM fields.
Schlagwörter:academia; Arbeitsbedingungen; Arbeitsmarkt; Geschlechterungleichheit; inequality; labour market segmentation; neoliberalism; Neoliberalismus; Tschechien; Ungleichheit; work condition
CEWS Kategorie:Wissenschaft als Beruf, Geschlechterverhältnis
Inhalt: This article examines gender differences in participation and communication behaviour at the German Congress of Geography 2019 in Kiel. The programme booklet and over 70 sessions with more than 200 lectures as well as over 800 discussion contributions were analysed for gender-specific differences using a standardised structured observation form. The results show significant gender differences both on the level of participation and on the level of communication behaviour: Lectures delivered by men achieved higher attendance figures than lectures by women due to gender-selective attendance behaviour of men; women were under-represented in the role of session chair; men tended to dominate the discussion rounds after the presentations, they took the floor more often and talked longer; the session chairs’ gender exercised a decisive influence on who participated in the discussions, there was a clear tendency towards gender homophily; in general, discussion activity was higher after presentations by women, because women then participated in the discussions significantly more often and for longer periods of time. In the second part of the paper, we put our findings in historical context. This reveals that gender inequality has decreased e.g. with regard to women’s conference participation, personnel structure and the number of women being appointed as full professors. On a structural level, positive gender dynamics are emerging within German-speaking geography. On the other hand, it becomes evident that especially at the level of communication at conferences, traditional gender-specific behaviours do persist. These behavioural patterns are obviously more enduring than the formal structures and positions.
Highlights
• Lectures by men are better attended than lectures by women.
• Men’s attendance behaviour at conferences is gender-selective, women’s is not.
• Women are under-represented in the role of session chair.
• Men tend to dominate the discussion rounds by talking more often and longer.
• The chairpersons’ gender has an influence on who contributes to the discussions.
Impacts of the COVID‐19 pandemic on the productivity of academics who mother
Autor/in:
Kasymova, Salima; Place, Jean Marie S.; Billings, Deborah L.; Aldape, Jesus D.
Quelle: Gend Work Organ (Gender, Work and Organization), (2021)
Inhalt: The aim of the study is to document how academics who mother have reorganized work and childcare since the beginning of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the United States, how those shifts have affected their academic productivity, and solutions proposed by academics living these experiences. We collected data via an online survey and, subsequently, by conducting qualitative interviews with a subsample of participants. From June to August 2020, 131 female-identified academics who mother were recruited via a Facebook group, Academic Mamas, and participated in our online survey. Twenty participants were then interviewed via phone or Zoom to explore more deeply the experiences of academics who mother. Results of our research suggest that since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the pressure on academics who mother is immense. Analysis of the qualitative data revealed three major themes: (1) inability to meet institutional expectations; (2) juggling work and family life; and (3) proposed solutions. Our results suggest that significant efforts must be made by academic institutions to acknowledge and value the childcare responsibilities of academics who mother and to create solutions that fully address the challenges they face in meeting the academic expectations and requirements that largely remain unmodified despite the pandemic.
Academic Medicine Faculty Perceptions of Work-Life Balance Before and Since the COVID-19 Pandemic
Autor/in:
Matulevicius, Susan A.; Kho, Kimberly A.; Reisch, Joan; Yin, Helen
Quelle: JAMA network open, 4 (2021) 6
Inhalt: Question How is the COVID-19 pandemic associated with academic medicine faculty perceptions of work-life integration?
Findings In this survey of 1186 medical, graduate, and health professional school faculty, more faculty considered leaving since the COVID-19 pandemic than before. Faculty with children, particularly female faculty with children, were more likely to consider leaving since the pandemic.
Meaning These findings suggest that the stressors of integrating work and life are higher in female faculty than male faculty, highest in women with children, and may have been heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Importance
How the COVID-19 pandemic has affected academic medicine faculty's work-life balance is unknown.
Objective
To assess the association of perceived work-life conflict with academic medicine faculty intention to leave, reducing employment to part time, or declining leadership opportunities before and since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Design, Settings, and Participants
An anonymous online survey of medical, graduate, and health professions school faculty was conducted at a single large, urban academic medical center between September 1 and September 25, 2020.
Main Outcomes and Measures
Self-assessed intention to leave, reducing employment to part time, or turning down leadership opportunities because of work-life conflict before and since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Results
Of the 1186 of 3088 (38%) of faculty members who answered the survey, 649 (55%) were women and 682 (58%) were White individuals. Respondents were representative of the overall faculty demographic characteristics except for an overrepresentation of female faculty respondents and underrepresentation of Asian faculty respondents compared with all faculty (female faculty: 649 [55%] vs 1368 [44%]; Asian faculty: 259 [22%] vs 963 [31%]). After the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, faculty were more likely to consider leaving or reducing employment to part time compared with before the pandemic (leaving: 225 [23%] vs 133 [14%]; P < .001; reduce hours: 281 [29%] vs 206 [22%]; P < .001). Women were more likely than men to reduce employment to part time before the COVID-19 pandemic (153 [28%] vs 44 [12%]; P < .001) and to consider both leaving or reducing employment to part time since the COVID-19 pandemic (leaving: 154 [28%] vs 56 [15%]; P < .001; reduce employment: 215 [40%] vs 49 [13%]; P < .001). Faculty with children were more likely to consider leaving and reducing employment since the COVID-19 pandemic compared with before the pandemic (leaving: 159 [29%] vs 93 [17%]; P < .001; reduce employment: 213 [40%] vs 130 [24%]; P < .001). Women with children compared with women without children were also more likely to consider leaving since the COVID-19 pandemic than before (113 [35%] vs 39 [17%]; P < .001). Working parent faculty and women were more likely to decline leadership opportunities both before (faculty with children vs without children: 297 [32%] vs 84 [9%]; P < .001; women vs men: 206 [29%] vs 47 [13%]; P < .001) and since the COVID-19 pandemic (faculty with children vs faculty without children: 316 [34%] vs 93 [10 %]; P < .001; women vs men: 148 [28%] vs 51 [14%]; P < .001).
Conclusions and Relevance
In this survey study, the perceived stressors associated with work-life integration were higher in women than men, were highest in women with children, and have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The association of both gender and parenting with increased perceived work-life stress may disproportionately decrease the long-term retention and promotion of junior and midcareer women faculty.
Inhalt: Scholarly journals are often blamed for a gender gap in publication rates, but it is unclear whether peer review and editorial processes contribute to it. This article examines gender bias in peer review with data for 145 journals in various fields of research, including about 1.7 million authors and 740,000 referees. We reconstructed three possible sources of bias, i.e., the editorial selection of referees, referee recommendations, and editorial decisions, and examined all their possible relationships. Results showed that manuscripts written by women as solo authors
or coauthored by women were treated even more favorably by referees and editors. Although there were some differences between fields of research, our findings suggest that peer review and editorial processes do not penalize manuscripts by women. However, increasing gender diversity in editorial teams and referee pools could help journals inform potential authors about their attention to these factors and so stimulate participation by women.
Schlagwörter:gender bias; Peer Review; publication; woman in academia
CEWS Kategorie:Wissenschaft als Beruf, Geschlechterverhältnis