Page 146 - Through the gate of the neoliberal academy • Herschberg

144 CHAPTER 5
meeting to discuss the shortlist, Jacob had called this “bluffy” and wondered if there was “proof” for this, thereby questioning Delia’s ambition for sending her work to good journals and the likelihood of success. In her interview, Delia had made a good impression on the committee, as argued by Jacob. But then he immediately continued by saying that “I think it might be a bit of bravado”. He practiced gender because instead of praising Delia’s ambition, as the committee did for Henry, he side-lined Delia’s ambition by calling it boasting or bluffing. This negative evaluation of Delia affected the committee members’ overall assessment of Delia, so in the final ranking she ended up below Henry. Here, we see again that stereotypical masculine behaviour (ambition) is disapproved for women candidates. These instances imply that women have to manoeuvre between levels of ambition that are within the boundaries of what women are allowed to display. They should not show too little and not too much ambition.
I found one example where the ambition of a man candidate, Frank, was questioned due to his bad performance in the interview (STEM1). But because Derrick championed Frank and the performance of Frank was attributed to aspects outside of him (see section ‘(Not) overcoming doubts’), the scepticism about Frank’s ambition was countered and he was hired nevertheless.
The findings show committee members practice gender by praising men who showed ambition in the selection procedure but questioning or disqualifying women’s ambition. Ambition in men candidates is considered a positive attribute and is labelled as ambition, whereas a woman candidate who showed ambition is considered something negative and disqualified as bravado. Committee members do so unreflexively. The data show how, in interaction, committee members draw on gender practices related to ambition, which can play a decisive role in the evaluation of candidates.
Addressing the practicing of gender
Resistance to gendered social interactions could reduce gender differences (Deutsch, 2007), but this requires a level of reflexivity and awareness (Martin, 2003). In my data I found a few instances where committee members addressed practicing gender when it occurred in the final decision-making process by openly reflecting on what other committee members said. These moments could be a chance for undoing (or reversing) practicing gender.
In the STEM3 case I found two situations in which practicing gender was recognized and openly reflected upon by committee members. As already illustrated in earlier sections, the candidacy of Laura was discussed intensively. At some point in