Gender and Precarious Research Careers

The literature on gender and science shows that scientific careers continue to be characterised - albeit with important differences among countries - by strong gender discriminations, especially in more prestigious positions. Much less investigated is the issue of which stage in the career such differences begin to show up. Gender and Precarious Research Careers aims to advance the debate on the process of precarisation in higher education and its gendered effects, and springs from a three-year research project across institutions in seven European countries: Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Iceland, Switzerland, Slovenia and Austria. Examining gender asymmetries in academic and research organisations, this insightful volume focuses particularly on early careers. It centres both on STEM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and SSH (Social Science and Humanities) fields. Offering recommendations to design innovative organisational policies and self-tailored 'Gender Equality Plans' to be implemented in universities and research centres, this volume will appeal to students and researchers interested in fields such as Gender Studies, Sociology of Work and Industry, Sociology of Knowledge, Business Studies and Higher Education.

Annalisa Murgia has coordinated the European FP7 project GARCIA - Gendering the Academy and Research: Combating Career Instability and Asymmetries. She is Associate Professor at the Leeds University Business School, UK. Barbara Poggio is Co-ordinator of the Centre of Interdisciplinary Gender Studies and Vice Rector for Equality and Diversity at the University of Trento, Italy.

Introduction Annalisa Murgia and Barbara Poggio PART I The State of the Art 1. Gender and Precarious Careers in Academia and Research: : Macro, Meso and Micro Perspectives Rossella Bozzon, Annalisa Murgia, Barbara Poggio 2. The Gendered Diversification of Academic Career Paths in Comparative Perspective Nicky Le Feuvre, Pierre Bataille, Sabine Kradolfer, Maria del Rio Carral, Marie Sautier PART II Academic and Research Organisations 3: Gender Budgeting to Expose Inequalities in a Precarious Academia - and Redistribute Resources to Effect Change Finnborg S. Steinþórsdóttir, Þorgerður Einarsdóttir, Thamar M. Heijstra, Gyða M. Pétursdóttir, Thomas Brorsen Smidt 4. The Peril of Potential: Gender Practices in the Recruitment and Selection of Early-Career Researchers Channah Herschberg, Yvonne Benschop, Marieke van den Brink PART III Early-Career Researchers 5. Work-Life Balance Among Early-Career Researchers in Six European Countries Sanja Cukut Krilic, Majda Cernic Istenic, DuSka Knezevic Hocevar 6. A Gendered Pipeline Typology in Academia Farah Dubois-Shaik, Bernard Fusulier, Caroline Vincke Conclusions 7. Implementing Measures to Promote Gender Equality and Career Opportunities of Early-career Researchers Florian Holzinger, Helene Schiffbänker, Sybille Reidl, Silvia Hafellner, Jürgen Streicher