ABSTRACT
In this executive letter, Barbara Poggio reports her experience as vice-rector of equality and diversity at the University of Trento (Italy), emphasizing the issue of gender asymmetries and the current challenges in the academic environment. The text results from a lecture at the Faculty of Business at the University of Lakehead (Canada) in June 2021. The letter’s purpose is to draw attention to the implication that the predominantly male academic environment has important implications for working conditions and quality of life. In addition, it highlights the impact of the current academic transformation and the affirmation of the neoliberal agenda, emphasizing performativity, excellence, and competition, and the implication in terms of increasing precariousness.
Keywords:
gender; science; diversity; work balance; neoliberalism
Barbara Poggio is Vice-Rector for Equality and Diversity Policies at the University of Trento, where she also coordinates the Centre for Interdisciplinary Gender Studies. She carried out several studies and research about the social construction of gender, with a special focus on methodological issues. Her current research interests mainly deal with the relationship among gender, work and organizations and research methods in organizations, with particular attention to qualitative methodology and narrative analysis. She coordinated several projects (at national and international level) focused on gender differences in organisations (gender and entrepreneurship, gender and science, work-life balance, vertical segregation).
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Source: European Commission (2021). She figures 2021: Gender in research and innovation. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. Retrieved from https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-law-and-publications/publication-detail/-/publication/67d5a207-4da1-11ec-91ac-01aa75ed71a1
Source: European University Association (2021, March 5). Despite gains, women still highly outnumbered by men as university leaders. Retrieved from https://eua.eu/news/645:despite-gains,-women-still-highly-outnumbered-by-men-as-university-leaders.html