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who deploy their power, whose arguments are perceived as legitimate, and who is or is not challenged or ignored.
Secondly, my analysis showed how micro politics and individual agendas play an important role in collective committee decision-making (cf. Bozionelos 2005) and in collective practicing of gender. The committee members who held considerable power tended to dominate deliberations and they took on the role of champions and / or anti-champions for specific candidates. In collective decision- making processes high status members often receive little or no contradiction from others (cf. Van Arensbergen et al., 2014b). I found indeed that powerful members were not often challenged and if they were, they assured the other(s) to accept their standpoint. Other committee members often complied with this. Sometimes after a little resistance, compliance followed. For example, in STEM1 Catherine (an external committee member) complied with nominating Frank, even though she had expressed that she would have preferred nominating another candidate. In STEM 3, Anna and Jessie complied in the end with nominating Nicholas, after a political game played by men committee members. Compliance seems to play a role in the maintenance of gender inequality. Another example where I observed micro politics and individual agendas in action is when women committee members addressed gender practicing. This awareness raising did not change the behavior of men committee members. Such gender practicing (for example not championing women candidates) might have been in line with their personal agendas. The men committee members might have remained silent because they did not welcome the women’s assessment, as it went against the men’s preferences for other (men) candidates. Therefore, individual agendas might have hindered dismantling practicing gender in the hiring committee.
5.8 Conclusion
In this chapter I examined how hiring committee members practice gender in hiring procedures for assistant professor positions. The focus on early-career positions is important as hiring decisions determine who can fulfil their academic aspirations and who will be the future researchers that shape the direction of research. This study contributes to the literature on gender inequality in (academic) hiring by showing seven patterns of practicing gender that illustrate how hiring committee members practice gender before, during and after committee deliberations. Also, it contributes to the literature on gender practicing by showing how by practicing gender inequality is created and sustained and also how it is resisted and challenged in collective settings
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