The Silent Standpoint: How Professors Explain Gender Disparities in Academia
Professor Margaretha Järvinen has together with professor Nanna Mik-Meyer from CBS published an article in British Journal of Sociology.
The article investigates Danish professors’ opinions on how the relatively low proportion of female professors should be explained. It shows that male professors relate women’s career barriers to family factors and women’s own interests and preferences. In contrast, female professors favour explanations at the university level, e.g. lack of recognition of women, implicit bias in evaluations, male networks and an unwelcoming academic culture. Furthermore, the article reveals a ‘silent standpoint’ among some of the participating male professors: the idea that women are generally less qualified than men as candidates for full professorships and that the hiring of more women may be a threat to academia’s meritocracy. The article draws on sociological accounting theories, focusing on the ‘excuses’ and ‘justifications’ used by professors when discussing gender issues.
Read the article in the British Journal of Sociology.