The Perspectives of Women Professors on the Professoriate: A Missing Piece in the Narrative on Gender Equality in the University

Abstract

Abstract:The under-representation of women in the professoriate is a widely acknowledged and complex phenomenon internationally. Ireland is no exception to this and indeed the issue of gender equality in Irish higher education has in the last 24 months emerged on the national policy agenda, largely as a result of a number of high profile legal cases and the subsequent setting up of an expert review panel (2015) and a gender equality taskforce (2017). What has now become clear internationally is that despite the advances women have made in terms of their participation rates as undergraduates, as well as the introduction of gender equity policies, the vast majority of professors in higher education institutions globally are men. Specifically, regarding Ireland in the period 2013-2015, even though 50% of the lecturer staff in universities were women, only 19% of professors were women. While the availability of such data is instructive, attention also needs to focus on examining the organizational culture and practices that appear to perpetuate such gender divisions and gendered patterns of action. On this, however, there is an almost complete absence of studies on the perspectives of women professors in Ireland on the professoriate. The study reported here, which was undertaken within the life story tradition, is one response to this deficit. It is based on interviews conducted with 21 women professors on their perspectives on working as professors in the university sphere in the period 2000-2017. Four key themes were generated during the analysis of their testimony: they regarded universities as operating according to male-definitions of merit; they made a strategic choice not to engage in senior management roles (Senior management is defined as occupying the role of Dean level or above.); they considered there was no room for caring responsibilities in universities; and they emphasized the importance of validation, selection, and networks of support.

Introduction to Special Issue on Gender and Leadership and a Future Research Agenda

“…They build on earlier work [18] and present a conceptual framework. They highlight the 'blatant disregard of plurality' in HE institutions and are ambivalent about the role played by sponsorship as reflected in 'taps on the shoulder' in perpetuating male dominance in masculinist organisations (a similar ambivalence emerges in Harford [11]). They also suggest that such patterns are unlikely to promote real diversity.…”

“…The methodology in these studies is broadly qualitative. Thus, for example, both Fitzgerald [9] and Carvalho and Diogo [10] use a narrative methodology; Harford [11] uses edited life stories within the life history research tradition; while Burkinshaw et al [12] use in-depth interviews and seminars. Acker and Millerson [7] use a highly innovative approach involving a collaborative autoethnography by a mother and daughter; while Peterson [13] uses a content and contextual analysis of job advertisements for Vice Chancellors.…”

“…Harford's [11] study involves interviews with 21 women professors on their experiences in Irish universities 2000-2017. The majority of these were single, divorced or solo parents: a not atypical pattern.…”

An autoethnographic account of a pragmatic inclusionary strategy and tactics as a form of feminist activism

“…There were other difficulties including resistance by many academics at all levels to gender equality and many women's withdrawal from power: perceiving me as having 'gone over to the other side' (Harford, 2018)…”

Women and Leadership in Higher Education: Special Issue Editorial

“…Research indicates that the intransigent masculinist organisational culture (O'Connor 2014), direct discrimination against academic women (Santos and Stéphanie 2019), the straightjacket that managerialism imposes on leadership styles (Morley 2014;Blackmore 2014) and the symbolic violence on talented women produced by the practices of new managerialism (Wilkinson 2008) are leading young, ambitious women to look elsewhere to build their careers (Burkinshaw and White 2017;Morley 2014). Those women already in HE middle management are often dispirited and exhausted (Acker 2014;Blackmore and Sachs 2007;Pyke 2011) or have made a strategic choice not to engage in senior management (Harford 2018). Other women leaders have persisted with the intransigent managerialist culture often by playing the game (Burkinshaw 2015) or trying to forge a different leadership style that is a bottom-up approach that listens to staff (Wilkinson 2008).…”