Connecting the past and the future: Academic geographical (im)mobility of Chinese women academics throughout doctoral education

Abstract

IntroductionAcademic geographical mobility is considered to be critical to academic excellence, but it is a gendered terrain. This study seeks to examine the career progression of Chinese women academics, as shaped by gender norms, regarding academic geographical (im)mobility throughout their doctoral education, in retrospect.MethodsTo address this issue, driven by the Butlerian theoretical concept of “a stylized repetition of acts,” the present study analyzed the qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with seven Chinese women academics to investigate their academic geographical mobility decisions throughout their doctoral education based on contested discourses of traditional Chinese culture and the advantages of academic geographical mobility for their career advancement.Results and discussionThis study determined that, shaped by gender norms, stylized geographical academic (im)mobility for these Chinese female doctoral students operate in the condition of gender- norms maintenance to make them recognizable and understandable in social and institutional culture. However, it may have a negative impact on their future academic career progression.

Gender-related issues in a Taiwanese university medical science laboratory setting: a qualitative analysis

“…Contemporary research conducted in higher education context in China has predominantly focused on exploring the factors that influence the intention to pursue higher education ( Dai et al, 2021 ) or on analyzing the status of gendered education ( Wang and Stocker, 2010 ; Si, 2022 ). A previous study identified gender norms as a contributor to the geographical immobility of Chinese women academics ( Bao, 2022 ) and another study analyzed factors that prevent girls and women from pursuing a scientific career in Taiwan ( Cheng, 2010 ). However, only a few studies from Taiwan have employed a qualitative approach, in which academic scientists in medical sciences were encouraged to share their experiences of working in laboratory settings.…”