Academic career making and the double-edged role of academic housework

Introduction to Special Issue on Gender and Leadership and a Future Research Agenda

“…It has also been associated with an increase in cross functional senior leadership positions and an increasing gap between such positions and the core activities of teaching, research and service. The consequent alienation of many academics, particularly in Europe, where undergraduate teaching and pastoral care has been devalued and effectively seen as 'academic housework' [36] has been documented. Paradoxically such positions, although seen in some countries [37] as unattractive, are in other countries (such as the UK) earning extremely high salaries in a context where an increasing proportion of front line staff are on part-time or temporary contracts.…”

Precarity is a Feminist Issue: Gender and Contingent Labor in the Academy

“…More generally, merit‐based bonuses and benefits commonly granted to TT faculty also cultivate the implicit notion that better working conditions are to be gained through individual talent and effort—rather than, say, collective bargaining (Aronowitz , 205; Heijstra, Steinthorsdóttir, and Einarsdóttir , 771). As TT lines grow scarcer, sustaining the myth of meritocracy requires that standards for hiring and tenuring are ratcheted continually upward, such that fewer and fewer people really do seem capable of achieving what is now expected from junior faculty (Schell , xii).…”

“…Indeed, one of Thamar Heijstra and her colleagues’ interview participants insisted that “the intangible traits of the profession were so valuable to him that he felt he was actually being overpaid, despite his modest salary of €1700 a month” (Heijstra et al. 2017, 208) . In reality, academics—particularly women—experience considerable stress on the job, due to income insecurity as well as higher workloads imposed by neoliberal measures, such as increased class sizes, ranking exercises, and pressure to secure external funding (Robinson ).…”

“…But the myth of work as its own reward transmutes structural issues of working conditions into matters of personal decision. Faculty overburdened with teaching and service, for instance, often move their research into their private time, leading them to “experience it as their own choice and in their own personal interest” rather than as a labor issue (Heijstra, Steinthorsdóttir, and Einarsdóttir , 774). Some view poorly rewarded service and teaching work positively, as valuable work experience (Heijstra et al.…”

“…Some view poorly rewarded service and teaching work positively, as valuable work experience (Heijstra et al. 2017, 210). This enables institutions to convene panels on “work–life balance” exhorting individuals to change their own practices, while leaving overarching systems of incentives, evaluations, and pressures in place—to hire a domestic worker, for instance, rather than unionizing to negotiate for smaller class sizes or free childcare.…”