Racial and Gender Inequality as a (Non)Crisis: The Discursive Strategies of Academic-Managers in Belgian and Danish universities

Abstract

This study investigates academic-managers’ understanding of gender and racial inequality in Belgian and Danish universities. Employing Sylvia Walby’s and Janet Roitman’s crisis concept, findings show that academic-managers use three discursive strategies of justification that are inherently tied to a noncrisis narrative. By justifying gender and racial inequality as a) ‘normal’ in academia through a meritocratic-neoliberal approach, b) considering it a matter that needs to be resolved ‘higher up’, and c) using a politics of time to relegate inequality to the past and equality to the future, they exempt themselves from dealing with gender and racial inequality. Crisis talk appears when gender inequality may harm the institution’s reputation. We conclude by advocating for a shift from a language of diversity to a language of crisis. Framing gender and racial inequality as a crisis evokes a sense of urgency to foster inclusion and diversity in research and innovation.