Gender discourses in academic mobility

Abstract

Despite increasing geographic mobility among academic staff, gendered patterns of involvement in academic mobility have largely escaped scrutiny. Positioned within literatures on internationalization, physical proximity, gender and parenthood in academic mobility and understandings of gender as a process enacted through both discursive and embodied practices, we use discourse analysis based on interviews with academics in New Zealand to examine differences in language that create differing realities with regards to gender and obligations of care in academic mobility decisions. The findings reveal how academic mobility is discursively formulated as ‘essential’ to successful academic careers, with the need for frequent travel justified despite advances in virtual communication technologies. Heteronormative discourses are shown to disrupt and fragment the opportunities female academics have to engage in academic mobility. However, we also uncover ways in which these discourses are resisted, wherein fathers articulate emotional strain associated with academic mobility. The article shows how discourse works to constitute the essentialization of academic mobility, and the uneven gendered practices associated with it, whilst also giving voice to gender inequities in academic mobility from the southern hemisphere.

Decarbonising academia: confronting our climate hypocrisy

“…It may be the case the 15% of academics globally are responsible for 70% of conference air travel (Cass, Shove, & Urry, 2005) given that, for example, academics working in the developing world have little or no access to the privilege of conference travel. Expectations of conference attendance for career progression also disadvantage women, particularly those with responsibilities to care for others (Cohen, Hanna, Higham, Hopkins, & Orchiston, 2020). Many years ago, Urry (2003) called for new interplays of corporeal and virtual mobilities that take account of social and environmental inequalities.…”

Who Counts? Gender, Gatekeeping, and Quantitative Human Geography

“…Across the academic board, though, a gender divide has been evidenced in multiple ways. This includes important components of academic visibility, such as international mobility-not only the extent to which women are able to be mobile but also the real and perceived benefits of this mobility (J€ ons 2011; Cohen et al 2020). It also stretches to bias in teaching evaluations (Boring 2017) and professional forums (Wu 2019), as well as underrepresentation in hiring processes or senior positions (Savigny 2014) and, of course, salaries (Webber and Canch e 2015).…”

“…2 Publication (whether as author or editor) is, of course, only one element of academic "success." International mobility, both short and long term (J€ ons 2011; Storme et al 2017;Cohen et al 2020), and international conference attendance (Derudder and Liu 2016) are also important mechanisms by which researchers signal their "excellence." Unlike other gatekeepers, however, publication gatekeepers, especially for journals, exercise enormous power at the institutional, disciplinary, and individual levels, controlling not only who is published but also on which topics (and in which journals), and publication, of course, is a preeminent factor in who is hired and promoted.…”

Career Development and Progression of Early Career Academics in Political Science: A Gendered Perspective

“…Moreover, networking takes up time that can be difficult to balance between research, teaching, and personal life, including caring responsibilities (Almack and Churchill, 2007). Cohen et al (2019) find that academics who are not willing to be physically present for conferences and other similar events may be in danger of becoming marginalized. Many of their respondents viewed mobility -particularly for career progression -as essential (see also Ştefuriuc, 2009).…”