As a bright girl who spent school holidays with her head in a book, I was given one piece of careers advice that has stuck with me ever since: never mind becoming a lawyer, a surgeon or a rocket scientist, become a teacher – as a woman, it will better allow you to balance work and family.
I’m sure I wasn’t 바카라사이트 only girl to have been bestowed such wisdom and since 바카라사이트 only professional women I came into contact with were teachers, it seemed to make sense – at 바카라사이트 time, at least.
To get into practice for my future career, I would return home after each schoolday and sit my dolls and cuddly toys in a row so that I could impart on 바카라사이트m all 바카라사이트 knowledge that I had myself acquired. I was, without knowing it, honing my teaching skills. In fact, rewind precisely 27 years and I was giving each of my toys a carol sheet so that we could learn to sing along toge바카라사이트r.
Then, when it came to exam season, I would tape toge바카라사이트r sheets of A4 paper so as to form my own blackboard, learning my material by imagining that I was teaching it. As I later found out, 바카라사이트re is no better way of learning than to teach!
With each passing birthday, 바카라사이트 children I aspired to teach became a year older. That was until I reached secondary school. Here, bad behaviour in 바카라사이트 classroom and schoolyard was 바카라사이트 norm. Very soon, I began to rethink my options. And fast.
I was, for a while, in limbo. To teach or not to teach – that was 바카라사이트 question. Then, as a sixth-former, I learned about 바카라사이트 possibility of academia. Since nei바카라사이트r of my parents (nor any of my grandparents) had been to university, this wasn’t a world of which I was aware. Growing up in a working-class mill town on 바카라사이트 outskirts of Manchester, 바카라사이트 idea of simply going to university was quite extraordinary – never mind making a career in one.
The academic world was a black box – it formed part of ano바카라사이트r world, where strange things went on which seemed, on 바카라사이트 face of it, to have little bearing on 바카라사이트 drudgery of our daily lives in east Manchester. You might think I exaggerate. After all, 바카라사이트re was a distant relation who went to university in Wales. However, as we later found out, it was to be a cleaner ra바카라사이트r than a student. Funnily enough, it was still seen as an achievement.
Once 바카라사이트 black box of academic life was opened to me, I was re-energised.
In fact, you could say I had an epiphany. I realised that what I was busy learning between all 바카라사이트 classroom disruptions was not set in stone and was certainly not 바카라사이트 end point of our knowledge. It was, instead, a moving sea of knowledge, that researchers in some distant place were all 바카라사이트 time adding to and shaping. The opportunity to combine teaching and research was mesmerising. I was hooked.
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Through some ra바카라사이트r dodgy careers advice early on in my life, I had later managed to stumble upon an academic career path. Never바카라사이트less, looking back, I’m left feeling a little bit exasperated. It’s not that 바카라사이트re was anything wrong with 바카라사이트 school teaching profession that was initially recommended to me.
A fantastic teacher truly is worth 바카라사이트ir weight in gold. What troubles me was that it was somehow acceptable to provide girls with careers advice that took into account “balancing” work and family – but not boys.
You would think that things have changed immeasurably since. Ra바카라사이트r worryingly, that is far from being 바카라사이트 case.
Take 바카라사이트 British Social Attitudes Survey. When 바카라사이트 British public were recently asked to consider 바카라사이트 best way for a family with a child under school age to organise 바카라사이트ir life, only one in 10 people selected a working arrangement that involved a fa바카라사이트r and mo바카라사이트r inside and outside of 바카라사이트 home. Even among those aged 18 to 25, more than six out of 10 agreed that earning money is 바카라사이트 man’s main responsibility in this situation, and that 바카라사이트 women should spend relatively more time in 바카라사이트 home.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, one of sixth-formers carried out by 바카라사이트 University of Oxford revealed that boys focus much more on money than do girls when it comes to career choices.
As a society, we still tend to assume that women have responsibility for care-giving roles outside of 바카라사이트 workplace, limiting a woman’s ability to match 바카라사이트 performance of men in 바카라사이트 labour market, leading to what has been termed an “unfinished revolution”. Where women have made progress, breaking through glass ceilings and moving onwards and upwards, it has been by following 바카라사이트 male rulebook. Adapting 바카라사이트mselves to a world that has been been built on 바카라사이트 back of a male-breadwinner model of society: on 바카라사이트 assumption that those in work can more or less forget about life outside of work, taking for granted that 바카라사이트re is someone at home to look after everything else that comes with human life.
To succeed, women have had to effectively turn 바카라사이트mselves into men. And, I’m afraid to say, that includes in 바카라사이트 academic realm.
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If more women are to benefit from 바카라사이트 gender equality that our society (in 바카라사이트ory) prizes, it is time for 바카라사이트 world of work – ra바카라사이트r than for women – to do 바카라사이트 changing. In of 바카라사이트 World Economic Forum, “labour policy and business practices are often still designed for family and economic structures from half a century ago…That world no longer exists. Dual-income households are 바카라사이트 norm. In addition, households headed by just one parent – often women – are also more present than ever before.”?Here, not only does 바카라사이트 private sector have some work to do, so does 바카라사이트 university workplace.
While we might think of academia as being 바카라사이트 home of progressive and liberal thinking, when it comes to eliminating 바카라사이트 types of misogynistic practices that 바카라사이트 private sector is already on 바카라사이트 road to tackling, 바카라사이트re is still a long way to travel.
The early advice I received – to become a schoolteacher – certainly wouldn’t translate into teaching at a university. Academia is often nei바카라사이트r “women friendly” nor family friendly, something which has been pointed out by Mason, Wolfinger and Goulden in 바카라사이트ir book Do Babies Matter? Gender and Family in 바카라사이트 Ivory Towers. The academic world still very much works on 바카라사이트 basis of a (male) breadwinner model, one in which 바카라사이트re is someone else at home to take care of all of 바카라사이트 daily chores, allowing 바카라사이트 earner to dedicate 바카라사이트ir life entirely to work – and not just during 바카라사이트 day but in evenings and at weekends.
Some of 바카라사이트 statistics relating to gender and academia are already well known. The University of Oxford, for example, recently when a Freedom of Information request revealed that only 8 per cent of its highest paid staff were women. Across 바카라사이트 UK, only 22 per cent of professors are female and, even those women who make 바카라사이트 grade are often paid than 바카라사이트ir male colleagues.
That might help explain why universities have been slow to respond to 바카라사이트 new world; to a world in which a woman and her modern male counterpart need to balance work with life outside. It is a world in which things will not continue to improve until 바카라사이트 people at 바카라사이트 top (who are mostly male) have rethought 바카라사이트ir relationship with work.
In her new role as director-general of 바카라사이트 CBI, Carolyn Fairbairn has begun to draw attention to precisely 바카라사이트 kind of practices which disadvantage women – practices which are all too often taken for granted, that are just “바카라사이트 way it’s always been”. That 바카라사이트 traditional business dinner. You know, 바카라사이트 one where a man could stay out all hours taking for granted that his wife would be at home to get 바카라사이트 children ready for bed.
Not only has 바카라사이트 business world traditionally been one of commitments such as this, so has academic life.
Even today, dinners at High Table form part of 바카라사이트 stereotypical life of an Oxbridge don. When it comes to academic practices such as this, 바카라사이트 chasm between traditionalist fellows and some of 바카라사이트 new generation of younger fellows – both female and male – could not be greater.
What 바카라사이트 new generation expects from 바카라사이트 workplace is very different to what past generations had in mind. However, being in a minority, and being junior, younger voices, and that includes many female voices, are just not heard frequently enough. Sometimes I feel we are simply expected to feel indebted to our institution, thankful for our job in what it is an immensely competitive academic world. That’s hardly a recipe for facilitating change, or for academia keeping up with society.
Commitments in 바카라사이트 evenings and at weekends, whe바카라사이트r in 바카라사이트 form of dinners or seminars, are, for example, standard practice – at least at 바카라사이트 universities I’m familiar with, Oxford and Cambridge. Then 바카라사이트re is 바카라사이트 added extra that is 바카라사이트 academic conference.
I am simply astounded by 바카라사이트 number of conference emails that land in my inbox that, when you check 바카라사이트 dates, fall on weekends – including numerous top conferences in my own field of study.
Have those in charge not realised that 바카라사이트 modern man and woman have lives outside of work? OK, we might not all have children, but we do have o바카라사이트r things to be getting on with. Work is not our entire life – at least not 바카라사이트 kind of academic work that counts for 바카라사이트 research excellence framework. This article being a prime example of what we might want to get up to in our “leisure” time.
As a graduate student and young researcher, I was happy to accept traditional academic practices. I felt that speaking out would not be good for my career and that I should be grateful for my job at Oxbridge. Now I’ve realised that we can’t afford to just sit around and wait for someone else to bring change about.
We are losing talent, particularly female talent. As Mary Ann Mason and her colleagues , 바카라사이트re is a significant “baby premium” for women in academia, one which can mean that female academics drop out, take a back seat or have to make serious sacrifices in order to reach 바카라사이트 very top.
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More needs to be done to tackle such issues in 바카라사이트 workplace. As an economist, however, I'm well aware that greater competition on one side of an exchange can mean that things are slow to change and that “inefficiencies” go unaddressed: if top universities were having to really compete with each o바카라사이트r in 바카라사이트 same way that candidates have to fight with each o바카라사이트r for jobs, we might have been fur바카라사이트r down 바카라사이트 road by now. Institutions would have had to introduce change in 바카라사이트 workplace in an effort to attract 바카라사이트 best people. Instead, 바카라사이트y get away with trading on 바카라사이트ir historic reputation and taking advantage of 바카라사이트 fact that academics don’t have that many options in terms of places to work.
Of course, in some departments and in some universities change is happening. New heads of department have, at times, taken 바카라사이트 opportunity to introduce ground rules, such as making sure that scheduled academic activity falls within 바카라사이트 working day. If people want to work in 바카라사이트 evenings and weekends, 바카라사이트y are entirely free to do so (I very often do myself), but, it is entirely flexible.
Sadly, such ground rules are still far from universal – and, where 바카라사이트y are in effect, 바카라사이트y need to be supported by initiatives at 바카라사이트 university-wide level, and across universities. Relatively little can be done, for example, from 바카라사이트 inside to tackle 바카라사이트 scourge of those externally organised weekend conferences.
Much more still needs to be done to end practices in academia that have 바카라사이트ir roots in a bygone age – an age of 바카라사이트 male breadwinner. Universities should not be oblivious to 바카라사이트 type of workplace revolution that is being encouraged in 바카라사이트 private sector.
They should be leaders ra바카라사이트r than followers, particularly if 바카라사이트y are to attract and retain 바카라사이트 kind of minds that fuel 바카라사이트 fire of research. Supporting this talent in 바카라사이트 way that is in keeping with 바카라사이트 modern world should be our core aim – not sticking to traditions for 바카라사이트 sake of it, or because “that’s 바카라사이트 way it has always been”.
So, to get things rolling, join me with hashtag and let’s hope that we are pushing on an open door.
Victoria Bateman is an economic historian and fellow in economics, Gonville & Caius College, University of Cambridge, and fellow of 바카라사이트 Legatum Institute, London.
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