Getting the Job Done: Implementing Equality Policies Within Academia

• In Event: Just Academia? Higher Education Organizations as Social Spaces for Equitable Transformation

Abstract

Several initiatives to counteract gender inequalities in academia have been launched over the last decades in Sweden. Yet, change has been slow in most areas. One recent initiative is the government initiative Gender Mainstreaming in Academia (GMA). Following GMA, all Swedish state-funded higher education institutions must intensify their work with gender mainstreaming. Gender mainstreaming is a common political strategy for implementing gender equality objectives both in Sweden and internationally. In its practical application, the GM strategy has been found to be far from easy and hampered with practical problems. Part of the challenge is the reliance of ordinary actors of an organization, ie non-gender expert, to integrate a gender equality perspective into decisions and daily activities. In order to do this, they must have the knowledge, will and capacity to turn objectives into practical solutions. Different models of implementation address the problem of operationalising policy in different ways and the implementation literature address factors that affect the results of different policy instruments and the combination of them. Yet, few studies have been conducted on the implementation of gender mainstreaming in academic organisations. This paper adress the potential of gender mainstreaming to change gendered inequalities in the specific context of academic organisations. This is done by comparing two individual case studies on the implementation in two Swedish universities with different pre-conditions such size, resources invested, previous experience and knowledge and also differences in the implementations strategies selected fort the GMA mission. In the paper, the potential of gender mainstreaming to promote equality with academia in a broad sense is discussed based on the case study results. The results show how the current paradigm of managerialism and “inclusive excellence” affects the implementation. An increased focus on management, steering mechanisms, and researchers’ individual careers is a consequence. Existing, well-functioning working methods risk being replaced by increased top-down steering with the danger of becoming decoupled and resisted. However, increasing managerialism can provide new areas for resistance. The quest for inclusive excellence can grant access to new areas for gender analysis. Discussions on accountability and responsibility challenge the non-implementation of gender mainstreaming as a passive form of resistance. Furthermore, managerial control and excellence discourses can be questioned which open up re-formulations and re-visions of academic work where gender perspectives can be integrated. Often in top-down type of implementation designs little support is given, and few long-term initiatives to enable individual and organizational learning and change are set up to accompany the implementation of GM. The results show how, on the contrary, bottom-up strategies which entails engaging with a broad group of staff (including non-academic) and with a focus on intersectional inequalities) have the potential to re-vitalize the work and create innovative solutions. Yet, the work risks being confined to insignificant areas and limited in scope. In the paper dilemmas in the implementation linked to different perspectives and standpoints are highlighted in relation to the implementation of gender equality objectives in academia.

Author

• Anne-Charlott Callerstig, Örebro University