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What Price Equality? : The Academic Cost of Government Supervised Gender Mainstreaming at Swedish Universities

Olsson, Erik J LU and Sörensen, Jens Stilhoff (2020) In Societies 10(4).
Abstract
This article is focused on gender mainstreaming at Swedish universities in the period from 2016–2019. Our research questions are: (a) In what form was gender mainstreaming introduced and did the form itself affect scholar’s academic rights? (b) Was the process in question compatible with international standards of institutional autonomy? (c) What effect did gender mainstreaming have on scholars’ ability to exercise their academic rights in accordance with international standards? Using the UNESCO Recommendations Concerning the Status of Higher-education Teaching Personnel (1997) as our international standard, we conclude that gender mainstreaming was introduced as a form of identity politics though government action and de facto... (More)
This article is focused on gender mainstreaming at Swedish universities in the period from 2016–2019. Our research questions are: (a) In what form was gender mainstreaming introduced and did the form itself affect scholar’s academic rights? (b) Was the process in question compatible with international standards of institutional autonomy? (c) What effect did gender mainstreaming have on scholars’ ability to exercise their academic rights in accordance with international standards? Using the UNESCO Recommendations Concerning the Status of Higher-education Teaching Personnel (1997) as our international standard, we conclude that gender mainstreaming was introduced as a form of identity politics though government action and de facto supervision; that the latter was problematic from the perspective of institutional autonomy; that the choice of gender studies as a preferred scientific framework for university policy had a chilling effect on inquiry and free speech in other areas of research; and, finally, that gender mainstreaming led to violations of some scholars’ individual rights. The findings may be taken into account in evaluations of the outcome of gender mainstreaming at Swedish universities, all things considered. (Less)
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
gender mainstreaming, academic freedom, Lehrfreiheit, university autonomy, identity politics, UNESCO, higher education
in
Societies
volume
10
issue
4
article number
87
pages
16 pages
publisher
MDPI AG
external identifiers
  • scopus:85117407513
ISSN
2075-4698
DOI
10.3390/soc10040087
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
53726a1a-5173-48fa-8a57-3bca997bfb74
date added to LUP
2020-10-30 12:12:54
date last changed
2022-04-19 01:37:17
@article{53726a1a-5173-48fa-8a57-3bca997bfb74,
  abstract     = {{This article is focused on gender mainstreaming at Swedish universities in the period from 2016–2019. Our research questions are: (a) In what form was gender mainstreaming introduced and did the form itself affect scholar’s academic rights? (b) Was the process in question compatible with international standards of institutional autonomy? (c) What effect did gender mainstreaming have on scholars’ ability to exercise their academic rights in accordance with international standards? Using the UNESCO Recommendations Concerning the Status of Higher-education Teaching Personnel (1997) as our international standard, we conclude that gender mainstreaming was introduced as a form of identity politics though government action and de facto supervision; that the latter was problematic from the perspective of institutional autonomy; that the choice of gender studies as a preferred scientific framework for university policy had a chilling effect on inquiry and free speech in other areas of research; and, finally, that gender mainstreaming led to violations of some scholars’ individual rights. The findings may be taken into account in evaluations of the outcome of gender mainstreaming at Swedish universities, all things considered.}},
  author       = {{Olsson, Erik J and Sörensen, Jens Stilhoff}},
  issn         = {{2075-4698}},
  keywords     = {{gender mainstreaming; academic freedom; Lehrfreiheit; university autonomy; identity politics; UNESCO; higher education}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  publisher    = {{MDPI AG}},
  series       = {{Societies}},
  title        = {{What Price Equality? : The Academic Cost of Government Supervised Gender Mainstreaming at Swedish Universities}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/soc10040087}},
  doi          = {{10.3390/soc10040087}},
  volume       = {{10}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}