Page 124 - Through the gate of the neoliberal academy • Herschberg

122 CHAPTER 5
recruited, however, in earlier research I found exceptions to this norm (Herschberg et al., 2016). When all letters of application are received, the committee makes a short list of candidates to interview, either via e-mail or during a face-to-face meeting. In the three STEM procedures and in one SSH procedure, candidates were asked to prepare a presentation or lecture or both. Then, the committee interviewed candidates for 30 minutes to one hour. Based on interviews with short listed candidates, committee members evaluated the candidates and decided on the preferred candidate. Often, committees made a ranking of the candidates. Committees are obliged to write an appointment report based on the applications, the interviews and their deliberations. This report, and the ranking, is a recommendation to the dean of the faculty, who makes the final hiring decision.
The social and cultural contexts can influence how practicing of gender is done and interpreted by for example members of a department (Martin, 2006). In this study, I analysed hiring committees in a STEM and an SSH department. I studied two distinct fields to understand differences but also similarities between disciplines with regard to recruitment and selection of early-career researchers and possible gender dynamics. The departmental contexts differ with regard to staff compositions. In the STEM department, the number of women staff is much smaller than the SSH department (18% in STEM versus 45% in SSH in 2014). Among the assistant professors (temporary and permanent) 8% were women in the STEM department and 38% in the SSH department in 2014. Due to the low number of women in the STEM department, staff members felt a certain urgency to hire (more) women staff members. In the SSH department this urgency was felt less, however, in some SSH cases committee members made a reference to the uneven number of men and women in academia.
Data collection and protection
I started my data collection for this study when I was invited as an observer during a hiring procedure for an assistant professorship in the STEM department. This department, that had experienced a shortage of women staff members for many years, was interested to find out more about the possible gender practices in their hiring committees. Next, when positions for assistant professorships became vacant in the STEM or SSH department, I either contacted committee chairs to ask if I could observe their committee meetings or I was invited as an observer. All hiring committee members gave approval for my presence during the committee meetings. The empirical material that forms the basis of this study was collected over a period of three years.
In total, I observed six hiring procedures: three in a Social Sciences