"What kept me going was stubbornness”: Perspectives from Swedish early career women academics in geography

Martina Angela Caretta,Natasha Alexandra Webster

doi:10.5209/infe.52911

Martina Angela Caretta, Natasha Alexandra Webster

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.5209/infe.52911

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Abstract

The rise of neoliberalism is creating inequalities for women as they balance their private lives and career trajectories. Geography as a middle sized discipline bridging the social and physical sciences offers insights into the ways neoliberal policies are felt by early career women (ECW). Using a life course model, this study presents the results of a workshop which sought to explore the ways in which women geographers, in Sweden, perceive and experience obstacles in their career advancement and which coping strategies they put in place to overcome those. The results show the blurring of the ECW ´s work and private lives. We find the experiences of ECW in Swedish geography departments are consistent with those of women in other countries. We conclude that ECW carry extra burdens in their career trajectories as academics due to unsupportive working environments, lack of mentorship, and an increasing pressure to produce measurable outputs and precarious employment. We argue that initiatives and programs aimed at retaining women in academia need to take on a broader perspective acknowledging the entanglement of women´s private and public spheres.

Highlights

Women have remained a minority in geography departments across Spain suggesting it is a more male dominated discipline than it was in the 1980s; surprising given Spain had a higher number of women geography professors than the UK in the 1980s (Garcia Ramon and Pujol, 2004; Garcia Ramon, Ortiz, Pujol, 2009)
They are at the forefront of changes in career trajectories and their experiences are indicative of the impact of neoliberalism ‘on the ground’ in departments and within a discipline
During the workshop the intersection of personal lives and academia work permeated throughout the entire discussion

Summary

Introduction

Women have remained a minority in geography departments across Spain suggesting it is a more male dominated discipline than it was in the 1980s; surprising given Spain had a higher number of women geography professors than the UK in the 1980s (Garcia Ramon and Pujol, 2004; Garcia Ramon, Ortiz, Pujol, 2009). While female PhDs in geography have gone up from 31% to 50% from1978 to 2013, a survey with a focus on post-PhD careers showed women are overrepresented in the Investigaciones Feministas

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