Sammanfattning

Gender equality (GE) is something we cannot not want'. Indeed, the pursuit of equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities for all women and men throughout a society freed from gendered oppression is widely visible in recent organizational GE initiatives. In practice, however, GE initiatives often fail in challenging gendered norms and at effecting deep-seated change. In fact, GE measures tend to encounter resistance, with a gap between saying and doing. Using a GE project at a Swedish university, we examined the changing nature of reactions to GE objectives seeking to understand why gender inequality persists in academia. We used resistance' to identify multiple, complex reactions to the project, focusing on the discursive practices of GE. Focusing our contextual analysis on change and changes in reactions enabled a process-oriented analysis that revealed gaps where change is possible. Thus, we argue that studying change makes it possible to identify points in time where gendered discriminatory norms are more likely to occur. However, analysing discursive practices does not itself lead to change nor to action. Rather, demands for change must start with answering, in a collaborative way, what problem we are trying to solve when we start a new GE project, in order to be relevant to the specific context. Otherwise, GE risks being the captive of consensus politics and gender inequality will persist.

Nyckelord

academia; resistance; gender equality; meritocracy

Publicerad i

Gender, Work and Organization
2018, Volym: 25, nummer: 2, sidor: 127-143

SLU författare

• Powell, Stina

  • Institutionen för stad och land, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

Globala målen

Uppnå jämställdhet och alla kvinnors och flickors egenmakt


UKÄ forskningsämne

Tvärvetenskapliga studier
Övrig annan samhällsvetenskap
Genusstudier


Publikationens identifierare

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12204

Permanent länk till denna sida (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/84254