Department Chairs’ Perspectives on Work, Family, and Gender: Pathways for Transformation

Abstract

Purpose

We examine chairs’ beliefs about the role of gender and gender inequality in their departments. Because work-family concerns have been central to explanations of gender inequality in the academy, we pay special attention to these issues.

Methodology/approach

We analyze interview data collected from 52 department chairs at one research-intensive, public university.

Findings

Although the chairs we interviewed were sympathetic and aware in many respects, their views on gender, work, and family were filtered through the lens of personal responsibility and choice, an outmoded view of work as separate and distinct from family life, and a notion of gender as a personal characteristic rather than an entrenched feature of academic work and careers.

Originality/value

Our focus on departmental leaders fills an important gap in the literature, which has focused more on the perspectives of faculty and less on those with the power to frame gender issues.

Citation

Wharton, A.S. and Estevez, M. (2014), "Department Chairs’ Perspectives on Work, Family, and Gender: Pathways for Transformation", Gender Transformation in the Academy (Advances in Gender Research, Vol. 19), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 131-150. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1529-212620140000019006