Abstract
The article addresses the financial framework, decision-making and budgeting processes of the University of Iceland from a gender perspective. The newly appointed rector of the University of Iceland (elected 2015) together with the university council is currently revising the UI system of the distribution formula of budget allocation. This provides an opportunity to examine the system which is inspired by New Public Management, with emphasis on global competition and performance based indicators. The aim of the article is to scrutinize the current system of budget allocation and distribution and its significance when it comes to gender. We ask how the, allegedly gender neutral, system plays out for different schools and disciplines and for academics in different ranks, when the gender dimension is taken into account. We draw on empirical data collected as part of the GARCIA research project, Gendering the Academy and Research combating Career Instability and Asymmetries, which is supported by the 7th Framework Programme of the European Union. To shed a light on the process we focus on the male-dominated School of Engineering and Natural Sciences (SENS) and the more feminised School of Social Sciences (SSS). The exploration shows that the financial framework, decision-making and budgeting processes at the University of Iceland are rather non-transparent, and biased in favour of the natural sciences. This applies to funding from the state; third party funding; the allocation of funding in the teaching part of the budgeting, as well as the research part. From the article it can be concluded that the current system contains an internal, though unintended, gender bias that needs to be corrected.
Highlights
The article addresses the financial framework, decision-making and budgeting processes of the University of Iceland from a gender perspective
Gender budgeting can be a form of feminist policy change that aims to “dismantle hierarchies of power that privilege men and the masculine, and the sexual division of labour that devalues women and the feminine” (Htun & Weldon 2010, cited in O’Hagan 2015, 235)
The findings reveal that the corporate instruments used at the University of Iceland (UI) are more favourable for the male-dominated SENS than for the more feminised Social Sciences (SSS)
Summary
The article addresses the financial framework, decision-making and budgeting processes of the University of Iceland from a gender perspective. We see an opportunity as the newly appointed rector of the University of Iceland (UI), together with the University Council, is currently revising the UI system of the distribution formula of budget allocation (UI 2016a), which resonates well with the UI’s Equal Rights Policy 2013–2017 and its emphasis on gender budgeting and fair economic management (UI 2014). This revision is crucial in a period when austerity measures are still prevalent, and global competition, internationalisation, performance orientation and new public management (NPM) tools are more important than ever in the global academic system (Steinþórsdóttir, Heijstra, Einarsdóttir under review). We believe that these two elements – the new rector’s revision of the current system and the introduction of gender budgeting in the UI system – provide us with the opportunity to present a more comprehensive understanding of the gender dimensions that Benería, Berik and Floro (2016, 4) point out as often lacking in policy measures:
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