Zusammenfassung
This chapter focuses on the practices used to appoint the most influential people in the academic world – full professors – in order to contribute to our understanding of gender in the system of academic evaluation. Professorial appointments are considered to be of crucial relevance in the reproduction of gender inequality or equality in academic organizations, since they represent the point at which the standards that govern the academic field are determined, standards such as the prevailing construction of scientific excellence. The aim of the chapter is to explore the various ways in which gender is practiced in professorial recruitment and selection, and to provide recommendations for gender neutral recruitment practices. To reveal these gender practices, this research draws primarily on quantitative and qualitative empirical material including the recruitment and selection protocols of seven universities, 971 appointment reports and 64 interviews with committee members (Van den Brink 2010), accompanied with recent work of gender in recruitment and selection.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Acker, S., & Feuerverger, G. (1996). Doing good and feeling bad: The work of women university teachers. Cambridge Journal of Education, 26, 401–422.
Brouns, M., & Addis, E. (2004). Gender and excellence in the making. Brussels: European Commission.
Essed, P. (2004). Cloning amongst professors: normativities and imagined homo- geneities. NORA, 12, 113–122.
Fine, E., Sheridan, J., Carnes, M., Handelsman, J., Pribbenow, C., Savoy, J. & Wendt. A. (2014). Minimizing the Influence of Gender Bias on the Faculty Search Process. In V. Demos, C. White Berheide, M. Texler Segal (Eds.), Gender Transformation in the Academy (Advances in Gender Research, Volume 19). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Goode, J. (2001). Is the position of women in higher education changing? International Perspectives on Higher Education Research, 1,243–284.
Husu, L., & Koskinen, P. (2010). Gendering excellence in technological research: a comparative European perspective. Journal of technology management & innovation, 5, 127–139.
Kanter, R. M. (1977). Men and women of the corporation. New York: Basic Books.
Merton, R. C. (1973(. The sociology of science; theoretical and empirical investiga- tions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Park, S. M. (1996). Research, teaching, and service: Why shouldn't women's work count? The Journal of Higher Education, 46–84.
Rees, T. (2011). The gendered construction of scientific excellence. Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, 36, 133–145.
Schacherl, I., Schaffer, N., Dinges, M., & Polt, W. (2007). Gender und Exzellenz. Explor- ative studie zur exzellenzmessung und leistungsbeurteilung im wissenschaftsystem. Vienna: Joanneum Research Forschungsgesellschaft mbH.
Sliwa, M., & Johansson, M. (2014). The discourse of meritocracy contested/repro- duced: Foreign women academics in UK business schools. Organization, 21, 821–843.
Van Arensbergen, P., van der Weijden, I., & van den Besselaar, P. (2014). Different views on scholarly talent: What are the talents we are looking for in science? Research Evaluation, 23, 273–284.
Van den Brink, M. (2010). Behind the Scenes of Sciences. Gender practices in recruitment and selection for professors in the Netherlands. Amsterdam: Pallas Publi- cations.
Van den Brink, M., & Benschop, Y. (2012). Gender practices in the construction of academic excellence: Sheep with five legs. Organization, 19, 507–524.
Van den Brink, M., Benschop, Y., & Jansen, W. (2010). Transparency in academic recruitment: a problematic tool for gender equality? Organization Studies, 31, 145–9.
Van den Brink, M., & Stobbe, L. (2014). The support paradox: Overcoming dilemmas in gender equality programs. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 30, 163–174.
Van den Brink, M., & Benschop, Y. (2014). Gender in Academic Networking: The Role of Gatekeepers in Professorial Recruitment. Journal of Management Studies, 51, 460–492.
Van Engen, M., Bleijenbergh, I., & Paauwe, J. (2008). Vrouwen in hogere wetenschap- pelijke posities aan de Universiteit Tilburg. Processen van instroom, doorst- room en uitstroom nader bekeken. Retreived January 2015 from http://www.uvt.nl/medewerkers/vrouwen.html
Wroblewski, A. (2014). Gender Bias in Appointment Procedures for Full Professors: Challenges to Changing Traditional and Seemingly Gender Neutral Practices. In V. Demos, C. White Berheide, M. Texler Segal (Eds.), Gender Transformation in the Academy (Advances in Gender Research, Volume 19). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
van den Brink, M. (2015). Myths about Meritocracy and Transparency: The Role of Gender in Academic Recruitment. In: Peus, C., Braun, S., Hentschel, T., Frey, D. (eds) Personalauswahl in der Wissenschaft. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-48112-7_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-48112-7_12
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-662-48111-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-662-48112-7
eBook Packages: Psychology (German Language)