Male allyship in institutional STEMM gender equity initiatives.

Meredith Nash,Tania Winzenberg,Robyn Moore,Ruby Grant,Fiona Cuthill

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0248373

Abstract

This article examines men’s involvement in an institutional gender equity award scheme and how their self-concept as allies develops over time. It draws specifically on a subset of qualitative data from the four men participating in a study involving in-depth interviews with university staff involved in the self-assessment team of one Australian institution’s Science in Australia Gender Equality (SAGE) Athena SWAN pilot. Data related to the men’s experiences is the article’s focus. Key themes from the data include: 1) men’s motivations for engagement; 2) men’s self-understandings as ‘champions for change’ 3) the barriers/risks associated with male championship; and 4) men’s evolving perceptions and critiques of the male champions model. Findings show that men demonstrated personal growth and increased awareness through their participation in the pilot. Yet, their frustration with how equity and diversity was managed in their organisational context highlights pitfalls in the concept of a male ‘champion’. This article provides timely guidance for institutions seeking to engage allies in gender equity initiatives.

Highlights

Science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) fields are increasingly important contexts for exploring how and why gendered leadership gaps persist [1]
In 2016, the Australian Government announced its support for two national institutional gender equity interventions–the Science in Australia Gender Equality (SAGE) program and Male Champions for Change (MCC) STEM
We observed four common themes relating to men’s motivations for involvement in equity and diversity efforts and their understandings of being male champions for change. These include men’s motivations for engagement in gender equity and diversity work; men’s understandings of male championship; the barriers/risks associated with male allyship; and men’s evolving perceptions of allyship

Summary

Introduction

Technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) fields are increasingly important contexts for exploring how and why gendered leadership gaps persist [1]. In 2016, the Australian Government announced its support for two national institutional gender equity interventions–the Science in Australia Gender Equality (SAGE) program and Male Champions for Change (MCC) STEM These programs recognise the impact of organisational context on women’s leadership opportunities and pathways. The feminist organisational change literature emphasises locating gender inequality in the context of collective arrangements and the ‘notable absence’ of men [4] Given these critiques, greater emphasis is placed on the need to address men’s roles in gender relations and structures [22]. As Kelan [39] argues, the subject positions problematically construct men as potentially disadvantaged via the organisational focus on gender equality This model of male allyship does not encourage men to listen and learn from women’s experiences. There are few data about how national culture influences the ways that men are engaged in allyship activities (e.g. cross-national comparative studies)–the existing research focuses primarily on allyship in the Anglosphere

Materials and methods

Design

Results and discussion

Conclusions