TY - JOUR

T1 - Sex discrimination in UK academia

AU - Knights, David

AU - Richards, Wendy

PY - 2003/3/31

Y1 - 2003/3/31

N2 - This article examines the gendered nature of employment in UK universities, showing women's experience of discrimination through differences in contract status and in access to academic hierarchies. It argues that the typical academic career path is structured according to a male perception of success: research-active, participating in the Research Assessment Exercise, an uninterrupted career history. The system of meritocracy upon which appointment and promotion within academic are based, the article argues, reinforces such a masculine approach to career success. These meritocratic systems of inequality reflect and reproduce the discursive practices of masculinity that present disadvantages to a majority of women and some men.

AB - This article examines the gendered nature of employment in UK universities, showing women's experience of discrimination through differences in contract status and in access to academic hierarchies. It argues that the typical academic career path is structured according to a male perception of success: research-active, participating in the Research Assessment Exercise, an uninterrupted career history. The system of meritocracy upon which appointment and promotion within academic are based, the article argues, reinforces such a masculine approach to career success. These meritocratic systems of inequality reflect and reproduce the discursive practices of masculinity that present disadvantages to a majority of women and some men.

KW - Female academics

KW - Masculinity

KW - Meritocracy

KW - Power

U2 - 10.1111/1468-0432.t01-1-00012

DO - 10.1111/1468-0432.t01-1-00012

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:0037354032

VL - 10

SP - 213

EP - 238

JO - Gender, Work and Organization

JF - Gender, Work and Organization

SN - 0968-6673

IS - 2

ER -