Everyday sexism and racism in the ivory tower: The experiences of early career researchers on the intersection of gender and ethnicity in the academic workplace

Abstract

The academic workplace is often described as a place of merit and equal opportunities. However, research shows a leaky pipeline where the share of women and people of color decreases in the higher echelons of academia. Explanations are often structural, referring to the access barriers women are confronted with, such as hiring and recruitment. This research investigates what goes wrong in the early phases of a female academic's career. From an intersectional perspective, I study the experiences with everyday sexism and racism of PhD and postdoctoral researchers across disciplines. After conducting 50 in‐depth interviews, four processes are discovered: smokescreen of equality, everyday cloning, patronization, and paternalism.

Women deserve better: A discussion on COVID‐19 and the gendered organization in the new economy

“…While men have benefitted from science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields and women have been burdened with care/household responsibilities during the pandemic (Frize et al, 2021), how could the distribution of both capital and labor income between men and women return to pre-pandemic levels and better post-pandemic? Beyond the smokescreen of performative allyship across industries and occupations during the pandemic, persisting gendered practices are evidence for diversity and gender policies to adopt a new approach toward gender parity (Bourabain, 2021). However, often missing from organizational discourse is the role (and influence) of policy on these approaches.…”

Gender equality mainstreaming and the Australian academy: paradoxical effects?

“…Lynch [27] describes academia as a 'carefree zone' with the dual role of mothering and an academic career at odds with the idealised unbroken career and unabridged commitment to work that university promotion tracks inherently demand. For women living at the intersections of social identities [11], the Australian academy typically remains silent on intersectional disadvantage on the basis of race, class, sexual identity(ies), and/or ability [40,41]. It is clear that the discourse of Gender Equality has a long way to go to effect equitable change to the institutional culture and the micro-practices of inequality that operate within it.…”

Pulling back the curtains: the realities and complexities of juggling parenthood and a career in academia

“…The book touches on these and other social inequalities and includes a diversity of voices, but as it aims to capture a broad range of experiences, it does not go into great depth into the distinct and compounded issues faced by academic parents with intersecting identities. Further reading of more focused studies is recommended to complement the broad focus of this book, such as those that are specifically focused on the intersection of sexism and racism in academia (e.g., Bourabain, 2021;Hinton-Johnson, 2011;Nzinga-Johnson, 2013;Rogers et al, 2019).…”