Explaining gender inequality in Iceland: what makes the difference?

Abstract

This article examines the explanations offered by men and women, at different academic ranks, for the scarcity of women in full professorial positions in Icelandic universities. Data derive from interviews and a survey involving the total Icelandic academic population. We test three hypotheses: Firstly, academics will not see family responsibilities as explanation, secondly, women will more often refer to a male-dominated environment and men more often to the ‘pipeline’ metaphor. Thirdly, the views of full professor women will be comparable to that of academic men. We find that the impact of the national context is considerably less than that of the gendered academic organizational context. Men and women explain gender inequality within academia differently. Moreover, full professor women are less convinced by the male-dominated environment explanation than lower-ranked women. The article calls for the visibility of gendered patterns in order to make changes.