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'I was completely oblivious to gender': an exploration of how women in STEMM navigate leadership in a neoliberal, post feminist context
journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-19, 19:51 authored by Meredith NashMeredith Nash, Robyn MooreRobyn MooreWomen are under-represented in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM) fields worldwide, particularly in leadership positions. We explore this phenomenon by examining the leadership experiences of 25 women who were actively seeking to enhance their leadership capacities in STEMM fields from five countries in the Global North. We argue that women in this study seemed to be caught in an ‘ideological dilemma’ between recognizing sexism and gender bias in their organizational contexts and seeing their organizations as gender neutral. We argue that a post-feminist climate and a neoliberal ethic of meritocracy in science render inequality difficult to articulate and address. Considering this dilemma through the lens of ‘cruel optimism’, we suggest that women are problematically bound to a fantasy of success in STEMM in which leadership is attainable through arduous effort.
History
Publication title
Journal of Gender StudiesVolume
28Issue
4Pagination
449-461ISSN
0958-9236Department/School
School of Social SciencesPublisher
Carfax PublishingPlace of publication
Rankine Rd, Basingstoke, England, Hants, Rg24 8PrRights statement
© 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis GroupRepository Status
- Restricted