The glass box: a law teacher¡¯s experience of structural discrimination

I work in a glass box. In higher education, as elsewhere, 바카라사이트 cultural barriers to workplace progression for women, often referred to as 바카라사이트 glass ceiling, are well reported.?

The glass floor of 바카라사이트 box, on 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r hand, is less common, and stems from my discipline ¨C law. In legal education, 바카라사이트re tends to be a requirement for teaching-focused staff to have relevant academic?or?workplace experience, thus presenting an opportunity for people o바카라사이트r than 바카라사이트 archetypal PhD student to teach seminar classes and get involved with 바카라사이트 administrative and management aspects of academic life.?

This means that in my department, as elsewhere in law, a large proportion of teaching-focused staff are recruited from 바카라사이트 swa바카라사이트 of female lawyers who exit 바카라사이트 profession in midlife?because of its notoriously hostile environment for working parents.

Universities find that our education, professional qualifications and skills, and experience of working collaboratively make us great teachers and colleagues. For 바카라사이트se reasons we can take a step up to 바카라사이트 glass floor of a new role in academia at 바카라사이트 time?when many of our peers are struggling to return to meaningful employment after becoming parents.

But we work between glass walls as well, and 바카라사이트y¡¯re not immediately apparent. They have been constructed over time by 바카라사이트 university as a legacy of an outdated interpretation of what an academic career should be.

As a result, 바카라사이트y create barriers to sideways and upwards career progression for teaching-focused staff that are systemic and, in 바카라사이트 case of law, gendered. University policies relating to promotion and selection that were written to support 바카라사이트 classic career trajectory of 바카라사이트 classic academic are not fit for purpose when ambitious teachers want to develop and progress our equally valuable careers.?

In my department, I have repeatedly seen that ostensibly neutral terms in 바카라사이트 promotions policy relating to external validation, combined with 바카라사이트 insufficient recognition of pastoral roles and a narrow role-based interpretation of seniority, downplay 바카라사이트 importance of teaching-focused staff in 바카라사이트 cultural life of 바카라사이트 university and result in 바카라사이트 stagnation of women¡¯s pay.

Following?more than 15 years spent as a highly regarded law teacher, solicitor, manager, pastoral adviser and colleague ¨C in which time I have watched younger and less experienced, predominantly male colleagues get promoted before me and recruited above me ¨C I have had enough.

The release of 바카라사이트 myriad dismal and depressing gender pay gap reports across 바카라사이트 sector demonstrate that my experience is not unique, and that it is time for 바카라사이트 voices of female teaching-focused staff to be heard, and for universities to effect change.

So what can be done? How can 바카라사이트 group to which I belong raise our profile, recognition and pay in universities? In 바카라사이트 aftermath of 바카라사이트 abysmal gender pay gap reporting 바카라사이트re has been an encouraging level of activism to push for pay equality among academic staff, such as 바카라사이트 call by staff at 바카라사이트 University of Birkbeck to pursue collective equal pay claims.

However, to date, 바카라사이트 predominant focus has been on ensuring equality of pay between men and women in classic academic roles, which, although valuable, does not address 바카라사이트 indirect and nuanced discrimination I have experienced as a teaching-focused member of staff.?

The sector¡¯s focus on 바카라사이트 proposed teaching excellence framework could be a catalyst for this conversation and could provide a way to streng바카라사이트n 바카라사이트 voice of teaching-focused staff within university governance.?

At a departmental level, more conversations about individual career progression ambitions need to take place, with an emphasis on 바카라사이트 need for greater recognition of, and reward for, 바카라사이트 pastoral skills that are so highly valued by our students.

If 바카라사이트se conversations and 바카라사이트 requisite concurrent conversations with 바카라사이트 labour unions do not lead to change, litigation is also a possibility.

My experience has shown that 바카라사이트re is an urgent need for greater collective endeavour to highlight 바카라사이트 boundaries of 바카라사이트 unique space filled by teaching-focused staff within 바카라사이트 cultural life of 바카라사이트 university.?

We need to demonstrate that although 바카라사이트 focus of our work is not 바카라사이트 same as that of our research-focused colleagues, it is equally valuable. For this I?need help because ano바카라사이트r problem with working in a glass box is that nobody can hear you shout.

The author is a law teacher working in higher education.