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A symbolic violence approach to gender inequality in academia

Author

Listed:
  • Afua Owusu‐Kwarteng
  • Cynthia Forson
  • Olufunmilola (Lola) Dada
  • Sarah Jack

Abstract

Feminist scholars have long recognized the gender‐based challenges that women in academia face relative to men. Although numerous strategies have been designed and implemented to tackle this problem, the attainment of gender equality in academia has proved futile globally. Integrating Acker's notion of the ideal worker with Bourdieu's concepts of symbolic violence and capital, we undertake a qualitative study of how women in African universities navigate the masculinized ideal academic norm, and how their efforts to break free from this symbolic image reproduces and legitimizes gender inequality. Drawing on the narratives of 36 women researchers in Ghana, Nigeria, Malawi, Kenya, Botswana, and Zambia, our analysis reveals how the perpetual struggle for power, positions, and resources in academia influences women researchers within these contexts to enact three strategies for legitimacy―(1) ‘Engage the patriarchal order,’ (2) ‘Contest normative femininity,’ and (3) ‘Appropriate normative femininity.’ In contributing to the ongoing efforts to achieve sustainable development goals 5 and 8, we develop a theoretical framework that illuminates the subtle and sophisticated mechanisms that (re)produce, sustain, and legitimize the gendered structures and cultures in academia that serve to disadvantage women. The implications of these findings for theory and practice are outlined.

Suggested Citation

  • Afua Owusu‐Kwarteng & Cynthia Forson & Olufunmilola (Lola) Dada & Sarah Jack, 2025. "A symbolic violence approach to gender inequality in academia," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 436-457, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:32:y:2025:i:1:p:436-457
    DOI: 10.1111/gwao.13161
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Sibel Yamak & Ali Ergur & Mustafa F. Özbilgin & Ozan Nadir Alakavuklar, 2016. "Gender as Symbolic Capital and Violence: The Case of Corporate Elites in Turkey," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(2), pages 125-146, March.
    3. Colette Fagan & Nina Teasdale, 2021. "Women Professors across STEMM and Non-STEMM Disciplines: Navigating Gendered Spaces and Playing the Academic Game," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 35(4), pages 774-792, August.
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