Glass ceilings and stone floors: an intersectional approach to challenges UK geographers face across the career lifecycle

Abstract

While there has been a steady growth of women working in geography in UK universities since the mid-Twentieth Century, there are continuing challenges in gendered career progression and professional interactions within the contemporary discipline. These range from problems associated with employment precarity and inflexible work practices, life choices and obligations in the domestic arena, discrimination and bullying, to less tangible gendered norms and cultures in the workplace. This paper discusses these challenges and inequalities in the light of a brief overview of sector-wide statistical data on appointments by gender and career-stage and with the analysis of some 250 in-depth responses to a nationwide qualitative survey of gender and career experience in UK universities (Maddrell et al 2016). While the term 'glass ceiling' still has significant relevance, findings show a more complicated picture which also includes 'stone floors' and stumbling blocks. It also shows how career experience varies by institution and individual: challenges in career progression can be compounded by institutional protocols and intersectional factors, and vary with career stage. The intersection of early-career job precarity, reproductive decisions and associated family responsibilities were particularly highlighted in this study. These 'pinch points' in career development disproportionately affect, but are not limited to, female early career scholars. Early career progress may be stalled in mid-career in multi-staged promotional systems such as that in UK universities; some from minorities face compound barriers; men with caring responsibilities may face prejudice. The paper concludes with suggested strategies for change, highlighting the importance of individual university and department protocols and practices; line manager and other senior colleagues' attitudes and leadership in creating workplaces with an equality-driven ethos and structures that allow individuals to flourish.

History and philosophy of geography I: Decolonising the discipline, diversifying archives and historicising radicalism

“…This last point is often raised by ongoing debates in feminist historical geography. Some scholars use typically historians' techniques such as autobiographical interviews to denounce everyday discriminations of women in academia (Maddrell, Thomas and Wyse 2019). It is worth noting that feminist historical geographers are also discussing notions such as intersectionality in analysing British feminist geographers' works of the last few decades (Evans and Maddrell 2019), which means doing critical and self-reflective disciplinary historiography.…”

Early-career women in geography. Practical pathways to advancement in the neoliberal university

“…In this special issue we contribute to the debates outlined above by presenting the challenging circumstances that early career geographers face (Maddrell, Thomas, and Wyse 2018;Bono, De Craene, and Kenis 2019) and ways that some women find to keep advancing in current neoliberal academia (Oberhauser and Caretta 2019;Puawai Collective 2019;Webster and Boyd 2019).…”

“…Formal evaluation based on number of publications, number of grants, students' evaluations and service expectations are frequently mentioned in these articles (Bono, De Craene, and Kenis 2019;Oberhauser and Caretta 2019). Together they also point to a system permeated by normativities such as class, racialization, language, and ableism found in the form of micro-aggressions, peer pressure and largely directed towards those who do not inhabit a male white able tenured body and hence do not fit the archetypical picture of a scholar (Maddrell, Thomas, and Wyse 2018;Puawai Collective 2019 Webster andBoyd 2019;).…”

“…Moving forward, these articles share a collective call for change in multiple waysfrom the individual's daily work experience to the larger question of the university's role and purpose. As Maddrell, Thomas, and Wyse (2018) calls it the stone floor or glass ceiling contradictions. The articles offer several scales for addressing challenges for early career women in academia and in doing so, address wider debates regarding the discipline of geography as an academic institution.…”

Reflexiones y experiencias de profesoras-investigadoras mexicanas sobre el techo de cristal

“…Así, se va configurando un obstáculo complejo para las mujeres que muchas veces se ven excluidas de dichos grupos de poder (Baeza y Lamadrid, 2019;Buquet et al, 2013;Gaete, 2015;Gallego-Morón, 2016;Maddrell et al, 2019), por ende, de los cargos directivos de mayor relevancia, transformándose en un ámbito que debe ser regulado de mejor manera dentro de las universidades para enfrentar más eficientemente el TC.…”