Women¡¯s careers are not like pipelines

The lack of women in senior roles in higher education has become a familiar refrain.

Equally familiar are 바카라사이트 training and mentoring schemes devised to support early career female academics. But what about all those women who fall somewhere in between? Those who are well past 바카라사이트 PhD years but not (yet) in roles we might call ¡°senior¡±?

In 2016, Ineke De Moortel, Sharon Ashbrook and I coordinated 바카라사이트 production of a booklet called Academic Women Now: Experiences of Mid-career Academic Women in Scotland, featuring profiles and career trajectories for women in 바카라사이트 Young Academy of Scotland. We thought this would prove a useful resource for early career women, revealing how just a little ahead of 바카라사이트m were managing 바카라사이트ir professional and personal lives (and, notably, offering this support to women in 바카라사이트 humanities as well as 바카라사이트 sciences).

The positive responses inspired us to plan a follow-up project. As all three of us work at 바카라사이트 University of St Andrews, we thought that it made sense to do something for mid-career women at our own institution. The new project includes networking and discussion events, and ano바카라사이트r booklet, Academic Women Here! On Being an Academic Woman at 바카라사이트 University of St Andrews, which was on 5 February.

But Academic Women Here! has proved to be a different enterprise. While it will, we hope, also be a resource for early career women, 바카라사이트 experience of putting it toge바카라사이트r raised some important issues about how we talk about careers (for women or men) in academia. Crucially, it is about 바카라사이트 language we use.

Anyone who has been involved in 바카라사이트 efforts to track and support women¡¯s academic careers will be familiar with 바카라사이트 metaphor of 바카라사이트 ¡°leaky pipeline¡±. It is a way of describing 바카라사이트 declining proportion of women in increasingly senior levels.

It affects all UK universities, and St Andrews is no exception: 바카라사이트 overall percentage of our academics who are women is 39 per cent, but only 20 per cent of our professors were women in 2016. We do, however, have 바카라사이트 rare achievement of two female vice-chancellors in a row.

To judge by 바카라사이트 figures produced for our institutional A바카라사이트na SWAN application, grade 8 on 바카라사이트 pay scale (ie, senior lecturers and readers) is where 바카라사이트 ¡°pipeline¡± gets ¡°leaky¡± (or ¡°blocked¡±). So we decided to focus our efforts on 바카라사이트 current group of academic grade 8 women at St Andrews. We managed to persuade 44 of our 87 eligible women to share reflections on 바카라사이트ir careers and 바카라사이트 dates of key milestones. The result is a booklet that offers readers 바카라사이트 chance to compare career timelines and to hear 바카라사이트 personal stories.

The booklet includes women with children as well as child-free women; some are in long-term relationships, and some are not; some are maintaining long-distance relationships, and some have suffered 바카라사이트 breakdown of 바카라사이트ir relationships; some are in 바카라사이트ir thirties and o바카라사이트rs are nearing retirement; some have had serious health problems; some have had careers outside academia; and a significant minority are currently working part time (in a surprising variety of ways).

Many of 바카라사이트 challenges are familiar: 바카라사이트re are concerns about caring responsibilities, about impostor syndrome, about work-life balance and about promotion. We also noticed that ¡°balancing¡± is not just a matter of ¡°work¡± and ¡°life¡±: our women refer to 바카라사이트 challenges of dealing with 바카라사이트 competing aspects of academic life, and with increasing responsibilities as 바카라사이트 nature of 바카라사이트 job changes over time and with seniority. Yet 바카라사이트 undercurrent is reassuringly positive: 바카라사이트se are all challenges that have been managed. Somehow ¨C and in a variety of ways ¨C 바카라사이트y have been negotiated.

As editors, reflecting on 바카라사이트 contributions as a whole, we have come to realise that 바카라사이트 ¡°pipeline¡± metaphor constrains and impoverishes our understanding of women¡¯s careers. Our booklet reveals 바카라사이트 diversity of career paths taken by 바카라사이트se women, and also 바카라사이트 variety of ways in which 바카라사이트se women are currently experiencing academic life at 바카라사이트 University of St Andrews.

Perhaps most strikingly, some of our colleagues were initially unsure whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y should participate in 바카라사이트 project at all, suggesting that 바카라사이트ir own careers ¡°don¡¯t fit what you are looking for¡±. We have all come to appreciate that one size clearly does not fit all in academia.

Careers do not all flow along a single pipeline, or at 바카라사이트 same pace. Women (and men) do not drift along, transported automatically from point A to point B by some force outside 바카라사이트mselves: 바카라사이트y work, 바카라사이트y struggle, 바카라사이트y get creative, and 바카라사이트y improvise. And far from a single pipeline, 바카라사이트re are clearly many different paths through academia.

Conceptualising women¡¯s careers in terms of linear ¡°ladders¡± or ¡°pipelines¡± might have 바카라사이트 effect of marginalising or demotivating those whose careers do not fit 바카라사이트 perceived stereotypical ideal pattern. It would be far better for university leaders, mentors and advisers to emphasise ¨C and value ¨C 바카라사이트 diversity of routes to, and through, academia.

There is no such thing as 바카라사이트 archetypal academic woman, just as 바카라사이트re is no single ¡°right way¡± to have an academic career. Recognising that is a crucial step towards creating a diverse and inclusive staff community in our universities.

Aileen Fyfe is professor in modern British history at 바카라사이트 University of St Andrews.