Menn, maskuliniteter og faghierarkier

Abstract

Abstract: Men, Masculinities and Professional Hierarchies Research on gender equality in academia only addresses men’s experiences to a limited extent, and the significance of masculine norms is also poorly elucidated. In this chapter, we present our results on the effects of male dominance in the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Oslo. We first discuss whether it is an advantage to be a man at the faculty. The simple answer, based on our data, is “yes”. However, although we could not identify a specific “male” pattern of problems, a significant proportion of men experience problems – some feel “as affected as women” and oppose specific measures for women. There are also indications of informal communities of men, a poorly-considered majority position, the notion that an academic career is incompatible with family and caregiving – not just for women, but for men too – and tendencies toward an unyielding connection between men, masculinity and professional hierarchies.