IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/gender/v28y2021i5p1859-1875.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Gendered workload allocation in universities: A feminist analysis of practices and possibilities in a European University

Author

Listed:
  • Finnborg S. Steinþórsdóttir
  • Fiona Carmichael
  • Scott Taylor

Abstract

The negotiated allocation of teaching and institutional service workload in universities is a key determinant of the quantity and quality of all work for academic staff. There is abundant quantitative evidence that women and men experience differential outcomes from faculty, school, or departmental workload allocation processes and convincing theoretical explanations as to why this happens. We add to this knowledge through feminist analysis of a mixed methods case study of an academic unit in a European University, focusing on gendered dynamics in the workload allocation processes there. Our analysis follows the “sweaty concept” methodology proposed by Sara Ahmed as a means of developing feminist theory that is founded on embodied experiences of discomfort in worlds that are not welcoming. The concept we develop through this is “inequitable modeling”; it suggests that while workload allocation processes are understood by model designers as a managerial tool to enable transparency and fairness (forms of procedural equity), the managed, especially women, experience them as opaque and unfair (forms of lived inequity). We conclude by questioning the principles and outcomes of such tools in achieving gender equity, and then describe how a feminist approach to workload modeling and allocation might be implemented.

Suggested Citation

  • Finnborg S. Steinþórsdóttir & Fiona Carmichael & Scott Taylor, 2021. "Gendered workload allocation in universities: A feminist analysis of practices and possibilities in a European University," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(5), pages 1859-1875, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:28:y:2021:i:5:p:1859-1875
    DOI: 10.1111/gwao.12709
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12709
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/gwao.12709?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Finnborg S. Steinþórsdóttir & Thomas Brorsen Smidt & Gyða M. Pétursdóttir & Þorgerður Einarsdóttir & Nicky Le Feuvre, 2019. "New managerialism in the academy: Gender bias and precarity," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(2), pages 124-139, March.
    2. Mariya Ivancheva & Kathleen Lynch & Kathryn Keating, 2019. "Precarity, gender and care in the neoliberal academy," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(4), pages 448-462, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rajeshwari Chennangodu & George Kandathil, 2023. "(Dis)empowering the feminine? Spatializing the interlace of gender‐class‐neoliberal managerialism in a women‐only café in India," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(5), pages 1631-1648, September.
    2. Maria Bastida & Luisa Helena Pinto & Ana Olveira Blanco & Maite Cancelo, 2020. "Female Entrepreneurship: Can Cooperatives Contribute to Overcoming the Gender Gap? A Spanish First Step to Equality," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-17, March.
    3. Mwenza Blell & Shan‐Jan Sarah Liu & Audrey Verma, 2023. "Working in unprecedented times: Intersectionality and women of color in UK higher education in and beyond the pandemic," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 353-372, March.
    4. Anna‐Liisa Kaasila‐Pakanen & Pauliina Jääskeläinen & Grace Gao & Emmanouela Mandalaki & Ling Eleanor Zhang & Katja Einola & Janet Johansson & Alison Pullen, 2024. "Writing touch, writing (epistemic) vulnerability," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 264-283, January.
    5. Silvia Fissi & Alberto Romolini & Elena Gori & Marco Contri, 2022. "Women participation in academic management positions. Evidence from Italian universities," MANAGEMENT CONTROL, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2022(3), pages 163-176.
    6. Özlem Altan‐Olcay & Suzanne Bergeron, 2024. "Care in times of the pandemic: Rethinking meanings of work in the university," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 1544-1559, July.
    7. Emily Yarrow & Karen Johnston, 2023. "Athena SWAN: “Institutional peacocking” in the neoliberal university," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 757-772, May.
    8. Clotilde Coron & Géraldine Schmidt, 2021. "The “gender face” of job insecurity in France: an individual- and organizational-level analysis," Post-Print halshs-03117970, HAL.
    9. Anastasios Hadjisolomou & Fotios Mitsakis & Steven Gary, 2022. "Too Scared to Go Sick: Precarious Academic Work and ‘Presenteeism Culture’ in the UK Higher Education Sector During the Covid-19 Pandemic," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 36(3), pages 569-579, June.
    10. Seulkee Heo & Pedro Diaz Peralta & Lan Jin & Claudia Ribeiro Pereira Nunes & Michelle L. Bell, 2022. "Disparities in COVID-19 Impacts on Work Hours and Career Satisfaction by Gender and Race among Scientists in the US: An Online Survey Study," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-18, December.
    11. Margaret Hodgins & Rhona Kane & Yariv Itzkovich & Declan Fahie, 2024. "Workplace Bullying and Harassment in Higher Education Institutions: A Scoping Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(9), pages 1-19, September.
    12. Marta Vohlídalová, 2021. "The Segmentation of the Academic Labour Market and Gender, Field, and Institutional Inequalities," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(3), pages 163-174.
    13. Ana Alacovska & Joëlle Bissonnette, 2021. "Care-ful Work: An Ethics of Care Approach to Contingent Labour in the Creative Industries," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 169(1), pages 135-151, February.
    14. Layla J. Branicki, 2020. "COVID‐19, ethics of care and feminist crisis management," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(5), pages 872-883, September.
    15. Ben Purvis & Hannah Keding & Ashley Lewis & Phil Northall, 2023. "Critical reflections of postgraduate researchers on a collaborative interdisciplinary research project," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-13, December.
    16. Katherine Doerr, 2024. "“Flying under the radar”: Postfeminism and teaching in academic science," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(3), pages 710-726, May.
    17. Amal Abdellatif, 2021. "Marginalized to double marginalized: My mutational intersectionality between the East and the West," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(S1), pages 58-65, January.
    18. Anke Strauβ & Ilaria Boncori, 2020. "Foreign women in academia: Double‐strangers between productivity, marginalization and resistance," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(6), pages 1004-1019, November.
    19. Anna Maria Górska & Karolina Kulicka & Zuzanna Staniszewska & Dorota Dobija, 2021. "Deepening inequalities: What did COVID‐19 reveal about the gendered nature of academic work?," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(4), pages 1546-1561, July.
    20. Michaela Edwards & Caroline Gatrell & Adrian Sutton, 2024. "The Case for Parentalism at Work: Balancing Feminist Care Ethics and Justice Ethics through a Winnicottian approach: A School Case Study," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 189(2), pages 231-247, January.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:28:y:2021:i:5:p:1859-1875. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0968-6673 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.