Gender Imbalance in Early Academic Careers? Approaches to Postgraduate Studies and Gender Equality Work in Male versus Female Dominated Disciplines in Swedish Academia

Author(s):

Ulrika Haake

Conference:

ECER 2008

Network:

22. Research in Higher Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

22 SES 09B, Gender Issues in Higher Education (Part 1)

Paper Session

Time:

2008-09-12

10:30-12:00

Room:

B2 214

Chair:

Mariana Gaio Alves

Contribution

Since 2006 the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research finances a research project named “Gender Equality and the Academy: When Desires and Choice Face Hindrance, Opportunities and Resistance”. The general purpose of the project is to increase knowledge about gender equality in academia and the career opportunities available to women and men with graduate degrees from various disciplines. An initial position is that gender equality, or lack thereof, is generated within a dynamic and situated process in which academic culture and structures interact with or even form individual choice. The research project is a continuation of earlier projects showing that gender equality circumstances vary with discipline (Lindberg, Riis & Silander, 2005; Silander, 2005). In an ongoing study within the project, named “Gender and the Starting Point of the Academic Career”, I investigate the application and selection processes of postgraduate study programmes in six different disciplines in Sweden, two of them male-dominated, two mixed and two female-dominated, as regards each discipline’s employed teaching staff in the Swedish context. Since 1998 numerous regulations prevail in Swedish postgraduate studies, which probably makes the selection processes appear more distinctly than before. For instance, new “rules of thumb” and application and selection procedures may have provoked actions of resistance to defend the disciplines’ traditions. The aim of study is to elucidate how different academic disciplines implement the application and selection processes in their postgraduate study programmes and what form their values take in regard to postgraduate ideals and gender equality. The theoretical framework for the study is mainly based on Bernstein’s (1977; 1983; 2003) theories of rules of classification and framing and Bourdieu’s (1996; 1999) research and theories about the core values of academic disciplines and how they affect views and practices of gender and gender equality. The study focuses on the organizational level and culture of academia (i.e. specific disciplines) and possible discriminating structures for prospective female postgraduate students.

Method

The data collection phase, encompassing 24 interviews (two at six disciplines each in two Swedish universities) as well as some statistics and regulation materials, is now finished and is in the process of being analyzed. Questions have been directed to research supervisors and directors of research studies. Of interest in the analysis is what type of criteria is valued by different disciplines in their selection processes of new doctoral students, how they experience the qualities of the ideal doctoral student, what the successful thesis should be like and what scientific quality stands for. A further focus of interest lies in how gender balance or imbalance is explained and how relevant gender equality actions within the discipline and the postgraduate study programmes are carried out in practice.

Expected Outcomes

So far the results show that an expected variation among disciplines exists and that it sometimes, but far from always, interacts with gender. By September 2008 I will be ready to present the results for the first time and also to present the next step of this study: a larger survey of all senior lecturers, associate professors and full professors in the six selected disciplines at Swedish universities.

References

References named in abstract: Bernstein, B. (1977). Class, Codes and Control. Towards a Theory of Educational Transmissions. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Bernstein, B. (1983). Angående tingens kodifiering. In Askling, B., Franke-Wikberg, S. Härnqvist, K., & Lundgren, U.P. Pedagogik i teori och praktik. Malmö: Liber. Bernstein, B. (2003). Class, Codes and Control. The Structuring of Pedagogic Discourse. London: Routledge. Bourdieu, P. (1996). Homo Academicus. Stockholm/Stehag: Brutus Östlings Bokförlag. Bourdieu, P. (1999). Den manliga dominansen.Göteborg: Daidalos. Lindberg, L., Riis, U., & Silander, C. (2005). Akademins olika världar. Stockholm: Högskoleverkets rapportserie 2005:53R. Silander, C. (2005) Högskolesystemet & könsbalansen. En studie om jämställdhet i den svenska högskolan. [Licentiatavhandling i statsvetenskap], Institutionen för samhällsvetenskap, Växjö universitet. Some additional references of importance in the paper: August, L., & Waltman, J. (2004). Culture, Climate and Contribution: Career Satisfaction among Female Faculty. Research in Higher Education, 45 (2), 177-192. Becher, T., & Trowler, P.R. (2001). Academic Tribes and Territories. Buckingham: SRHE and Open University Press. Elg, U., & Jonnergård, K. (2003). The Inclusion of Female PhD Students in Academia: A Case Study of a Swedish University Department. Gender, Work and Organization, 10 (2), 154-174. Falkenberg, J. (2003). Decreasing Numbers at Increasing Levels: An Investigation of the Gender Imbalance in NHH. Gender, Work and Organization, 10 (2), 175-193. GrBich, C. (1998). The Academic Researcher: Socialisation in Settings Previously Dominated by Teaching. Higher Education, 36, 67-85. Högskoleverket (2003). Jämställdhet inom universitet och högskolor. En bibliografi med kommentarer. Högskoleverkets rapportserie 2003:22R. Högskoleverket (2006). Forskarutbildning och forskarkarriär - betydelsen av kön och socialt ursprung. Stockholm: Högskoleverkets rapportserie 2006:2R. Karlsson, P. (2004). Forskares socialisation. Kunskapssociologisk visit i doktoranders livsvärldar. [PhD Thesis]. Umeå universitet: Sociologiska institutionen. Kim, L. (2000). Svensk forskarutbildning i internationell belysning. Stockholm: Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien Documenta No 70. Schoug, F. (2004). På trappans första steg. Doktoranders och nydisputerade forskares erfarenheter av akademin. Lund: Studentlitteratur. Umbach, P.D. (2007). Gender Equity in the Academic Labor Market: An Analysis of Academic Disciplines. Research in Higher Education, 48 (2), 169-192. Viefers, S.F., Christie, M.F., & Ferdos, F. (2006). Gender Equity in Higher Education: Why and How? A Case Study of Gender Issues in a Science Faculty. European Journal of Engineering Education, 31 (1), 15-22. White, K. (2004). The Leaking Pipeline: Women Postgraduate and Early Career Researchers in Australia. Tertiary Education and Management, 10, 227-241.

Author Information

Ulrika Haake

Umeå University

Department of Education

Umeå

186

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