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Women and academic workloads: career slow lane or Cul-de-Sac?

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Abstract

Career progression for women academics to higher levels is not in proportion to their representation within the profession. This paper looks at theories about this and relates them to current practices within universities for allocating work. The management of workloads can disadvantage women through a number of interactive factors. Interruptions in continuity of employment and fractional contracts can work to exclude or hinder research activity, an area pivotal for higher progression. The issue that many models for allocating work exclude research from their calculations exacerbates this. Additionally this feeds off expectations that research work is conducted after hours at home, a feature that women may find more difficult. Lastly a lack of transparency can allow areas of, often unwitting, discrimination to go undetected through the skewed allocation of types of work not strongly associated with promotion. The paper suggests a series of measures that might improve this situation.

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Notes

  1. Using Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) data for academic staff employed in UK HE for the year 2007/08. Focusing on Full Person Equivalent (FPE) statistics, as do Equality Challenge Unit reports.

  2. Specified grades were: 01,02,03,04,31,32,33,34,40,41,42,61,62,63,71,72,73.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Salford, Salford, UK

    Lucinda Barrett & Peter Barrett

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  1. Lucinda Barrett
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  2. Peter Barrett
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Correspondence to Lucinda Barrett.

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Barrett, L., Barrett, P. Women and academic workloads: career slow lane or Cul-de-Sac?. High Educ 61, 141–155 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-010-9329-3

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