Ana M. González Ramos

International mobility of women in science and technology careers: shaping plans for personal and professional purposes

International mobility has become a key requirement in science and technology (S&T) professional career progression. On the one hand, the increasing mobility of women suggests that this may be a way for them to avoid or get away from women-unfriendly working environments. On the other hand, international mobility can present problems for women as they, particularly, have to plan their lives around their professional goals and personal lives. This article addresses the international mobility strategies of women regarding their personal and professional choices. We analyse their motivations to move, the way they manage their lives abroad and the effects of mobility on their lives. The analysis is based on 24 in-depth interviews of highly skilled women working in Spanish S&T sectors. Our main findings show that mobility is a new challenge which may improve womens family lives and professional careers. However, they have to plan carefully their lives on a long-term as well as a daily basis. In this sense, they need strong personal determination and the ability to balance their professional and personal goals. Moreover, their personal decisions depend not only on them as individuals, but also on their partners and families, on wider social values, on the institutional support they enjoy, and on the general public policies which they are affected by.

Dancers in the Dark: Scientific Careers According to a Gender-Blind Model of Promotion

AbstractThe disparity between men and women in science is a hot topic in gender studies and a relevant target of scientific policies. The leaky pipeline metaphor illustrates the decreasing number of women along senior positions in academia; however many questions remain unanswered. What factors progressively diminish the number of women in scientific careers and why do they appear to be less successful than their male colleagues? In order to discover new insight, this work compares men’s and women’s career paths by taking into account academic and family milestones achieved throughout the life course. An innovative and interdisciplinary methodology (from bibliometrics, statistics, and sociology) has been constructed to examine men’s and women’s trajectories. Findings display gender differences in scientists’ trajectories. The evolution of scientists’ careers reveals linear careers for males, whilst women develop non-linear careers. Motherhood emerges as a problem for developing linear careers. And collegi...Abstract The disparity between men and women in science is a hot topic in gender studies and a relevant target of scientific policies. The leaky pipeline metaphor illustrates the decreasing number of women along senior positions in academia; however many questions remain unanswered. What factors progressively diminish the number of women in scientific careers and why do they appear to be less successful than their male colleagues? In order to discover new insight, this work compares men’s and women’s career paths by taking into account academic and family milestones achieved throughout the life course. An innovative and interdisciplinary methodology (from bibliometrics, statistics, and sociology) has been constructed to examine men’s and women’s trajectories. Findings display gender differences in scientists’ trajectories. The evolution of scientists’ careers reveals linear careers for males, whilst women develop non-linear careers. Motherhood emerges as a problem for developing linear careers. And collegiate decisions of gatekeepers seem to systematically disfavour women scientists’ careers.

Digital Inclusion of Low-Income Women: Are Users of Internet Able to Improve their Life Conditions?

This paper addresses the impact of digital inclusion in life conditions of low-income women who may stir a process of transformation due to the ICT (Information and Communication Technologies). Supposedly, ICT and especially the Internet has been highlighted as powerful instrument for social change. Internet users would improve life conditions and, particularly, low-income women would gain some advantages in their lives in the medium- and long- term. This work explores the impact of digital inclusion in the following dimensions of womens lives: employment, family and private spheres. The results point some benefits and risk of digital inclusion that policy makers would pay attention in launching the gender digital agenda to reduce social exclusion and poverty.

Neo-gerencialismo y austeridad en el contexto académico español y europeo. ¿Dos caras de la misma moneda?

Academic personnel face situations of vulnerability and precariousness in the Spanish and European context. On the one hand, the crisis situation provides justification to funding cutbacks in science and universities; on other hand, previous to the crisis, the dynamic of new-managerialism yields new symbolic and material conditions based on competitiveness. This paper provides evidences about the labour situation of the Spanish academic staff concerning both dynamics and gender differences. Firstly, we examine the new-managerialist dynamic and the austerity dynamic in the European and Spanish context. Secondly, we display quantitative evolution of the Spanish public universities during the last decade, using secondary data from databases distinguishing by sex and labour categories. The results show the decrease of civil servant personnel (mostly men) and the increase of labour personnel, before the implementation of austerity measures. Moreover, it remains a high number of assistants who hold teaching overload in universities. Women figures increase slowly, narrowing the gender gap in early and medium stages of the academic careers. In conclusion, austerity policies justify and facilitate quick implementation of the neoliberal model of research in Spain.

Do men and women perform academic work differently

Why is the gender gap so large in researchers’ career progression? Do men and women have different priorities in their academic careers? This study explores men’s and women’s academic work to shed light on the strategies of male and female researchers. The online survey collected data on Andalusian researchers to determine possible differences in academic work that may explain the gender gap in the higher ranks of academia. The results reveal that men’s and women’s research performance mainly follows the same patterns, but they do differ in the diversity of women’s priorities, goals and working styles. This may explain women’s vulnerability that leads to their minority presence at the top. These results underline the importance of incorporating new approaches in academic careers based on non-linear trajectories departing from the ideal concept of career paths based on masculine hegemony.Why is the gender gap so large in researchers’ career progression? Do men and women have different priorities in their academic careers? This study explores men’s and women’s academic work to shed light on the strategies of male and female researchers. The online survey collected data on Andalusian researchers to determine possible differences in academic work that may explain the gender gap in the higher ranks of academia. The results reveal that men’s and women’s research performance mainly follows the same patterns, but they do differ in the diversity of women’s priorities, goals and working styles. This may explain women’s vulnerability that leads to their minority presence at the top. These results underline the importance of incorporating new approaches in academic careers based on non-linear trajectories departing from the ideal concept of career paths based on masculine hegemony.

Idoneidad de los indicadores de calidad de la producción científica y de la investigación

There is increasing awareness about the necessity of measuring and assess the production of scientific knowledge to understand the importance of the contributions and the quality of scientific results. Only the course of time has given rise to an implicit consensus about this issue, with general ideas that affect to all the scientific communities, but reached by agreement within each speciality. In this work we address these questions, which will lead us to expose the difficulties of obtaining an efficient indicator of quality by paying attention only to a narrow group of measures. This is especially evident when we examine the distance between... (Ver mas) knowledge areas, with different research cultures and hence, different methods of assessing the quality of their work. Thus, we will argue that the assessment of the scientific quality must be carried out from an integral point of view by taking into account its multifactorial nature.

Women in technology, working time, life time

Some theories emphasize work-life balance as primary factor of retention and promotion of women in ICT sector. In GENTALENT project, we surveyed 326 women in order to address their labour conditions. Findings show women overcoming few handicap (even lesser extent than it is expected) regarding work-life balance, but they display negative perception about current working time that they think it should be shorter. These results are bear out by Labour Force Survey (LFS) and Labour Condition Survey (LCS).

The Spanish Equality Law and the Gender Balance in the Evaluation Committees: An Opportunity for Women’s Promotion in Higher Education

Despite advances in gender policy and equality laws in the twenty-first century, women are still a minority in the full professor category in Europe. Some measures establish gender quotas to balance gatekeeper positions, which will supposedly pave the way to make women’s integration into senior higher education positions easier. In Spain, Organic Act 3/2007 1 of 22 March on effective equality between women and men launched progressive norms governing gender issues, and the Spanish Science and Technology Act (2011) incorporated measures to promote effective equality in academic institutions. This paper evaluates how Spanish evaluation agencies’ compliance with implementing gender balance has affected the composition of evaluation committees and its impact on the advancement of women in science. Findings reveal some positive figures on women’s representation in recent decades, even though gender-balanced committees do not show any clear evidence of causing this effect. There seems to be no correlation between gender-balanced committees and women’s success rates, suggesting intermediate variables affect women’s low participation in competitive submissions. It explores several factors concerning two agencies’ evaluation procedures, such as formality and transparency, direct/multiple gatekeeping processes, the influence of epistemic cultures, cohorts and confidence of female candidates.

Accelerated Researchers: Psychosocial Risks in Gendered Institutions in Academia

In recent decades, scientific institutions have undergone significant changes due to new managerialism and the application of excellence in research. This research model has given rise to tensions related to increasing pressures and working demands in a competitive international environment that accelerate the pace of academic life. In addition, precarious working conditions and job insecurity have affected academics’ lives and careers. Academic literature has already addressed these organizational changes and their impact on academics, however, few studies have focused on psychosocial risks related to time constraints, meritocratic pressures and career insecurity from a gender perspective. This analysis is relevant given the gendered distribution of responsibilities and the evidence of gender biases in academia that hinder the advancement of gender equality in scientific institutions, as the persistent lack of women at the top of research careers show. In this paper, we explore the psychosocial effects of the new organizational model of science characterized by accelerated time regimes and precarious working conditions from a gender perspective. We draw attention to gender-based discriminatory practices that may yield an accumulative effect on the well-being of women academics. We analyze 36 interviews from women and men researchers from five areas of knowledge in Spanish universities and research centers, following a ‘gendered institutions’ approach. The results highlight psychosocial risks for both men and women academics as a result of accelerated work organizations, intensified by uncertainty and hyper-competition due to lack of positions. The hegemonic male work model characterized by total availability confirms academia as a gendered institution, especially damaging women’s well-being and careers, as well as those of men committed to care responsibilities – challenging motherhood explanations – which may discourage them from the pursuit of gender equality. Our findings highlight discriminatory practices toward women academics which create psychological harm and feelings of being unwelcome, putting their career progression at risk. Lastly, we suggest a different model of work organization following the implementation of a culture based on an ‘ethics of care’ feminist approach.

Doing Gender in the Conference Hall: Do Men and Women Behave Differently in Engineering Scientific Environments?

The literature on women in STEM areas displays the barriers that women face at scientific workplaces, showing important interaction where they do and undo gender. However, there is a lack of resear...ABSTRACT The literature on women in STEM areas displays the barriers that women face at scientific workplaces, showing important interaction where they do and undo gender. However, there is a lack of research about the extent men and women do and undo gender in networking environments. This is a participant observation at Human-Computer Interactions annual conferences in a mainly male-dominated environment. It explored how researchers are ‘doing’ and ‘undoing’ gender focusing on two main dimensions: the gender roles adopted by men and women during the presentations and social activities, and the gender contents exposed in their research talks. A first result shows that sex and gender issues are trivialized in research contents by both men and women researchers. A second result reveals that men and women unintentionally and successively ‘do’ and ‘undo’ gender as a strategy to fit into a neutral and accepted identity of engineering and computer scientists.