Gender Equity in the Marketing Academy: From Performative to Institutional Allyship

Abstract

The fair treatment of women in the workplace, where they experience both opportunities and constraints, has been on and off higher education agendas for decades. Yet, institutionalised gendered constraints still shape the careers of female academics, including those in the marketing academy, resulting in disrupted or obstacle-heavy career journeys and the underrepresentation of women in senior positions. Furthermore, progress towards gender equity is hampered by institutional resistance to change, favouring performative rather than genuine and transformational institutional allyship. We draw upon personal experiences, recollections and anecdotes garnered over the years – synthesised with literature – to examine systemic gendered constraints within our collective career span. We propose institutional allyship as the intentional efforts needed by the marketing academy to address systemic and structural gender inequities and achieve second-order change by integrating gender equity outcomes throughout organisational decision-making. Specifically, we suggest nominated actions within a Gender Equity and Inclusion Charter for the Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy (ANZMAC) and its member universities as a first step.

The Future of the Australasian Marketing Academy: Challenges and Priorities

“…The third paper by Dobele et al (2021) 'Gender Equity in the Marketing Academy: From Performative to Institutional Allyship' considers the persistence of gendered constraints in the marketing academy (and beyond) that hamper the careers of female academics. This is a timely contribution given the pandemic has deepened gendered inequalities in the academy, with the fallout expected to reverberate for years to come.…”

“…This is a timely contribution given the pandemic has deepened gendered inequalities in the academy, with the fallout expected to reverberate for years to come. Dobele et al (2022) adopt a systemic and structural focus to gendered inequities, critiquing the ubiquitous strategies across higher education that attempt to ‘fix women’ and place the burden of change on the shoulders of the individual female academic. The authors reflect on how systemic gendered constraints can impact the academic career journey across three major stages – as PhD students and early career academics, when building an academic career and during promotion and in senior leadership.…”

Business schools and faculty experiences of sexism: Gender structure tensions within and outside these schools

“…Some have underscored the importance of "allyship" in business schools (Bell et al, 2021;Contu, 2020). Focusing on Australian business schools, Dobele et al (2021) have called for a shift from individualized allyship to "institutionalized allyship" where institutions focus on promoting the interests of marginalized groups.…”

“…Future government funding could be linked to their success in closing pay and representation gaps to challenge this discourse and place more emphasis on accountability. A further example here is how allies in some contexts can engage in "performative allyship" (Dobele et al, 2021), where they use the subject position of an "ally" to frame themselves in a positive light but do not take any actions to support marginalized groups or hold people accountable. They may even engage in exclusionary behaviors, particularly in competitive workplace environments.…”

Emerging Research Trends in Marketing: A Review of Australasian Marketing Journal

“…Second, although it is not yet a flourishing area of research, many businesses have included diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in their business agenda. AMJ has reflected various aspects of DEI in a number of recent articles such as the voice and visibility of Aboriginal and Torres Strait peoples (Raciti, 2022), an indigenous Māori perspective on engagement (Love & Hall, 2022), the adoption of diversity and inclusion practices (Bádé jọ et al, 2022), and gender equity in the marketing academy (Dobele et al, 2022).…”