Navigating the gendered academy: women in social work academia

Abstract

Women fare less well than men across all academic disciplines: they are less likely to be promoted, they earn less, and many more professors are men. There has, however, been little analysis to date of the experience of women in social work education, a discipline that has historically had higher representation of female staff and students. This study set out to explore women in the social work academy through a case-study of social work education in Scotland. A mixed methods approach was used, including a review of relevant literature; an online survey of women and men academics in social work education; and semi-structured interviews with female social work leaders, past and present. The study found that women in the social work academy faced the same pressures as other women in higher education; some of these pressures were also shared by men. Most significant, however, was the extent to which women in social work academia experienced twin challenges, firstly, as female academics and secondly, as female social work academics in a discipline that struggles for recognition in the academy. We conclude that this makes for a contradictory and, at times, ambiguous experience for women as they navigate the gendered academy. (199)

Equity, diversity and inclusion of pediatric clinician–scientists in Canada: a thematic analysis

“…This is consistent with previous research that describes women's work in the private sphere as invisible and the inequities and structural barriers embedded within academic medicine and the pediatric clinicianscientist field as pervasive. 9,13,14,40,41 Caring responsibilities remain highly gendered, regardless of the number of caregivers in the home, 12 and women are expected to maintain the responsibility for household chores and to be the primary caregiver. 42 Consistent with our findings, graduate students, trainees, academics and clinicians of ethnic minorities face racism, discrimination and ongoing racial microaggressions within academic departments at every stage of the path during their training and practice.…”

“…6,7 Research demonstrates substantial challenges extending beyond the early career phase, including that women of colour are the least likely to secure research funding; 8,9 that biases affect publishing and the grant evaluation processes; 10 that women and racialized individuals entering the faculty rank are poorly compensated compared with males; 11 and that mentorship and role models may be harder for women to secure than their male counterparts. [12][13][14] Our recent scoping review found that research exploring the training and career paths of pediatric clinician-scientists from equity-seeking groups does not currently exist. 15 The individual-and system-level factors that will enhance equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) among pediatric clinicianscientists are urgently needed to inform the evaluation frameworks and curricular content for pediatric clinicianscientist training programs.…”

Precedents to Think About Social Work in Chile in the Current Uncertain Political Scenario: Reflections From Critical Feminisms

“…In this sense, social work is seen as a “dirty job for women,” because it serves stigmatized populations (Kreiner et al, 2006) and has a minor value in the social sciences (Aquín, 2003). So, we must constantly defend our value as women and social workers (Cree et al, 2020).…”

Women's career in Vietnamese academia: An analysis from multiple lenses

“…Acker, 1990, p. 146). While this conceptualisation has been utilised by various studies across contexts (Conesa Carpintero & González Ramos, 2018;Cree, Morrison, Mitchell, & Gulland, 2020;Kantola, 2008), my study is the among the first which employed gendered organisations to demonstrate how the gendering practices in work setting feed into women's experience of inequalities in Vietnamese academic settings. To this end, my study also contributes to knowledge about the nature of Vietnamese academia, which has seldom been subjected to gender analysis.…”