Gendered Career Trajectories in Academia in Cross-National Perspective

Despite growing feminization of the student community and despite numerous affirmative action programs put into practice in various European countries since the mid-1980s, female researchers have up until now not managed to make it to the top of the career ladder in significant numbers in European academia. The contributions of this volume take a closer look at career achievements, perspectives and trajectories primarily at European universities, putting straightforwardly into question the widely held opinion that women are strategically excluded from gaining access to top positions in academia. There exists no simple evil or male-dominated mechanism for hindering the advancement of women in academia. However, there are many pitfalls and difficulties that still stand in the way of female academics and render their lives and professional advancement in academia more difficult compared to their male colleagues. The articles aimed at investigating the interrelationship between strategy and structure, thus focusing on the interconnectedness between the institutional environment of the systems of higher education and the strategic behavior, the aspirations, hopes and desires of female academics in particular who either were looking back upon their career path, had just started to think about a career in academia, or were on their way to applying for a leadership position at a university. Authors: Annette Zimmer, Renata Siemieńska, Nicky Le Feuvre, Emmanuelle Latour, Anett Schenk, Susana Vazquez-Cupeiro, Juan Martin Fernandez, Emanuela Sala, Roberta Bosisio, Liisa Husu, Louise Morley, Holger Krimmer, Freia Stallmann, Miranda Leontowitsch, Agnieszka Majcher, Christian Poulsen, Beata Zawadzka.