The struggle for equality in academia. The gendered effects of an apparently innocent work allocation

This contribution builds on a social-constructionist conceptualisation of gender to investigate gender inequality in academia; the focus is on negotiation of the workload and the role of leaders’ in building fairer working and career conditions. Data come from a European project on gender equality in science, and comprise in-depth interviews and focus groups with both women and men, across roles and grades, in one College in the UK. It is shown how leaders’ low awareness of the importance of work allocation and of the dynamics related to gender identity and gendered expectations can have detrimental effects on women’s careers especially. We contribute to literature on gender in academia by demonstrating that negotiation and allocation of workload are intrinsically gendered activities. Following the voice of our research participants, we argue that training leaders could pave the way for creating more equal opportunities in relation to career management and advancement.