Dividing academic work: gender and academic career at Swedish universities

ABSTRACT

Recent changes within the higher education system have affected the balance of academic labour. This article is based on interviews with 25 women lecturers in Education Faculties at Swedish Universities. It specifically addresses the shifting balance in terms of the increased separation between teaching and research in relation to gender, and the relationship between career advancement and gender this promotes. Distinctions concerning gender and academic labour and an enhancement of these power structures are identified, as well as how these affect possibilities of academic advancement. In conclusion, this study illustrates how women academics understand and navigate their academic career in relation to gendered attributes of academic work such as competitiveness, caretaking and responsibility are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Academic work
• gender
• divisions of labour
• competition
• collaboration

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Petra Angervall is a Senior Lecturer at Department of Education and Special Education, University of Gotheburg, Sweden.

Dennis Beach is a Professor at Department of Education and Special Education, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

ORCID

Petra Angervall http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2425-2088