Page 16 - Through the gate of the neoliberal academy • Herschberg

14 CHAPTER 1
Zanoni, Janssens, Benschop, & Nkomo, 2009). Acker (2006) defines inequality in organisations as:
systematic disparities between participants in power and control over goals, resources, and outcomes; workplace decisions such as how to organize work; opportunities for promotion and interesting work; security in employment and benefits; pay and other monetary rewards; respect; and pleasures in work and work relations. (p. 443)
Inequalities, thus, can be found at different levels and in all organisations. In this dissertation, the disparity between researchers involved in recruitment and selection of early-career positions, often members of the core staff, and candidates for such positions is indisputable. They differ in aspects such as power and control, status, job security, and contract status.
Inequalities are often based on categories of social differences such as gender and race but also on for example sexuality, religion, age, and physical disability (Acker, 2006). When I started my research, I wanted to study solely gender inequality in academic hiring for early-career positions, as I wanted to find out why a disproportionate number of men end up on postdoc and assistant professor positions compared to women. However, I am well aware that multiple inequalities are ingrained in academic institutions (e.g., Johansson & Śliwa, 2014; Özbilgin, 2009; Śliwa & Johansson, 2014). Therefore, I remained open for other inequalities than gender while doing my research. When I conducted my first study (which can be found in chapter 3), I found various inequalities in the selection criteria used to select assistant professors. In chapters two and three I look at inequality in a broad sense. I uncover how recruitment and selection practices for postdoc and assistant professor positions create inequalities between (potential) candidates for such positions, for example related to mobility opportunities or nationality of candidates. In chapters four and five I concentrate on the concept of gender inequality.
Gender inequality
Gender inequalities in organisations “are rooted in taken-for-granted assumptions, values, and practices that systematically accord power and privilege to certain groups of men at the expense of women and other men” (Meyerson & Kolb, 2000, p. 554). In my research, I build on scholars who perceive gender as a social process, as a social construct that is created in interaction (e.g., Poggio, 2006). The approach I relate to sees gender as “an axis of power, an organizing principle that shapes social structure, identities, and knowledge” (Meyerson & Kolb, 2000, p. 563). This approach opposes the view that organisational structure is gender neutral and instead sees organisations