Department Chairs’ Perspectives on Work, Family, and Gender: Pathways for Transformation
Abstract
Purpose
We examine chairs’ beliefs about the role of gender and gender inequality in their departments. Because work-family concerns have been central to explanations of gender inequality in the academy, we pay special attention to these issues.
Methodology/approach
We analyze interview data collected from 52 department chairs at one research-intensive, public university.
Findings
Although the chairs we interviewed were sympathetic and aware in many respects, their views on gender, work, and family were filtered through the lens of personal responsibility and choice, an outmoded view of work as separate and distinct from family life, and a notion of gender as a personal characteristic rather than an entrenched feature of academic work and careers.
Originality/value
Our focus on departmental leaders fills an important gap in the literature, which has focused more on the perspectives of faculty and less on those with the power to frame gender issues.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgments
In addition to the first author, members of the interview team for this project included: K.D. Joshi, B. Keafer, G. Liebnitz, and K. Ward. Partial support for this work was provided by the National Science Foundation’s ADVANCE IT Program under Award HRD-0810927. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
Citation
Wharton, A.S. and Estevez, M. (2014), "Department Chairs’ Perspectives on Work, Family, and Gender: Pathways for Transformation", Gender Transformation in the Academy (Advances in Gender Research, Vol. 19), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 131-150. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1529-212620140000019006
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2014 Emerald Group Publishing Limited