Ceding and Losing Autonomy: Deprofessionalization of Science and Engineering and Humanities Faculty Within Gendered Organizations

• In Event: 16.058 - Roundtable Session 6
  In Roundtable Session: 16.058-4 - Diversity and Organizational Culture

Abstract

The role of gender within the academic profession is closely related to the organization of work and competition for resources. In a financial environment that increasingly awards funding through competitive mechanisms, effects of gender are likely to be seen in university resource allocation decisions and managerial oversight. Because this entails implications for faculty work – traditionally conducted by independent, self-regulating professionals – we conceptualize an intimate relationship between deprofessionalization and gendering of academic work. Drawing on 83 interviews in fields with different external funding opportunities, we identify how environmental pressures have changed faculty professional status by gendering academic work. Findings suggest environmental changes have coincided with decreasing autonomy in different ways for faculty in “masculine” and “feminine” fields.

Authors

• Kelly Ochs Rosinger, University of Virginia

• Barrett Taylor, University of North Texas

• Lindsay Coco, University of Georgia

• Sheila Slaughter, University of Georgia