Gendered Accountabilities and Moral Selves in the Neoliberal University

Abstract

This paper theoretically reties the dynamics of gender inequality into contemporary academic regimes of governance. We do so by investigating the discursive construction of gendered moral selves drawing on the notion of accountability - the relational and moral account-giving for one's behavior - in political sciences (Dubnick, 2011, 2014b) and in gender studies (West & Zimmerman, 1987). Specifically, we examine which gendered moral selves emerge from the social space of accountabilities constitutive of the neoliberal academic regime and with which effects on governance in the neoliberal academy and gender inequality. Empirically, we analyze 40 semi-structured in-depth interviews with post-doc researchers, assistant and associate professors and full professors in a Belgian university, focusing on their construction of moral selves in relations of accountability towards multiple fora: themselves, colleagues, researchers, students, project commissioners, partners and children. Our analysis unveils that mora...