“Playing Mother”: Channeled Careers and the Construction of Gender in Academia

Gender discrimination in the academy globally is widely recognized in terms of faculty ranking and career progression rates. U.K. national data notes the lower research recognition of women scholars as well as gendered pay gaps. This article reports on a qualitative study of women academics across discipline groups at a British post-1992 corporate university. Focus group discussion findings suggest that gendered career pathways are implicated in hindering the career progression of women academics. Participants perceive themselves to be regularly channeled into feminized teaching and administrative roles considered to be less advantageous routes to progression than elite and masculinized research routes. This together with the affective intensity of academic tasks that perform as emotional labour in relation to pastoral care are critically examined as examples of both essential and essentialized roles, where key “mothering” duties and “housekeeping” academic roles are allocated primarily to women academics. However, although regarded as vital, gendered roles and tasks are insufficiently recognized and rewarded by the bureaucratic processes that exploit them for institutional ends.