Page 212 - Through the gate of the neoliberal academy • Herschberg

210 ENGLISH SUMMARY
increased competition for jobs, are made responsible for fighting the stereotypical images that committee members hold.
Collectivity and power
In chapter 5, I examine through observations how committee members practice gender in hiring procedures for assistant professor positions in a Dutch university. An observation study gives insight into the practicing of gender because I could observe what committee members do and say during real time job interviews and committee deliberations. I uncover seven patterns of practicing gender that illustrate how hiring committee members practice gender collectively before, during and after committee deliberations. I observe how in composing hiring committees, the focus is often on women’s sex instead of their contribution as expert members (1).
During hiring decision-making, I could uncover because of my observations how committee members practice gender in interaction with each other and how they influence each other. I have observed how the course of the collective decision-making process and the outcomes are very much dependent on who gives what kind of arguments and about whom, as this prompts responses from other committee members. The results indicate that a positive or negative first response can make or break a candidate. I show that committee members practice gender collectively by holding women candidates against higher standards than men (2) and by raising (additional) doubts or amplifying doubts about women’s qualities (3). My observations show that committee members evaluate (and disqualify) women candidates more often than men candidates based on personal characteristics such as independence, ambition, role modelling and even truthful behaviour (4 and 5). I also show how women candidates have to walk a fine line between stereotypical feminine and masculine behaviours in job interviews. My analysis also shows how micro politics and individual agendas play an important role in collective committee decision-making and in collective practicing of gender (6 and 7). The committee members who hold considerable power tend to dominate deliberations and they take on the role of champions and / or anti-champions for specific candidates.
Discussion and conclusions
In chapter 6, I discuss the various ways in which inequalities are (re)produced related to other aspects than individual merit, such as categories of social difference (e.g., gender). I have shown that the macro-context influences recruitment and selection, for example through the increased number of temporary research projects in academia and macro-discourses such as excellence and internationalisation. Also, recruitment