The Slippery Slope: Struggling for Equity in the Academy in the Era of #MeToo

Abstract

The complexity of the sexual harassment language of the #MeToo movement creates discontinuities that may muddy intended communications. Yet understanding this language provides a fuller picture of the experiences that women face. Gender harassment has persisted in the workplace despite long-standing antidiscrimination policies, perhaps because of a universal failure to recognize all forms of it-some of which are more pervasive and common than sexual abuse. This article considers the ability of the academy to affect sexual harassment in public administration. It discusses the implications of gender harassment, the least recognized form of sexual harassment, and makes recommendations for overcoming gender barriers in the academy and in practice. Evidence-based guidance for advancing women in the academy may create more equitable and just spaces for teaching and learning. Public administration classrooms and scholarship represent critical opportunities to recognize patterns of organizational practice and systematically redress gender harassment in the workplace.

A Qualitative Study of Pandemic-Induced Telework: Federal Workers Thrive, Working Parents Struggle

“…Thus, COVID-19 changed the work location and created new expectations both at work and at home (Schuster et al, 2020). Telework in a pandemic without childcare further accentuates gendered institutional norms and gender inequity in the workplace (Knepper et al, 2020), by an estimated margin of 20% to as much of 50% (Collins et al, 2021). Given the public health crisis, there was little to no time to consider how federal employee differences across demographics would impose varying impediments to their telework arrangements beforehand.…”