The Vicious Cycle of Essentialism for Gender Change in STEM Universities
Despite institutional commitments and concerted efforts towards gender equality, women continue to be underrepresented in full professorships and leadership positions in universities and research organisations. This is particularly evident in the male-dominated field of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). In this thought-provoking talk, Claudia Schredl examines the crucial role of informal institutions (i.e. taken-for-granted gender norms and practices) in shaping power structures in STEM universities.
Schredl draws on interview data collected from change agents, decision-makers, and researchers at four STEM universities in Europe. She takes a feminist institutionalist perspective and analyses the essentialist notion of informal institutions. Specifically, she investigates whether informal institutions perpetuate beliefs in gender differences in preferences and traits, and whether they are perceived as immutable. The findings reveal a 'vicious cycle of essentialism' at the heart of the issue. This cycle highlights how gender equality measures that focus narrowly on fixing women, such as mentoring programmes, can inadvertently reinforce essentialist gender beliefs. These beliefs, in turn, serve to perpetuate existing gender inequalities in the academic system. Schredl’s work calls for a re-evaluation of gender equality strategies, with an emphasis on holistic approaches that challenge essentialist gender beliefs and pave the way for sustainable gender change in STEM universities.
Claudia Schredl is a doctoral student at the Paderborn University, Department of Sociology, and is writing her dissertation on “The Vicious Cycle of Essentialism for Gender Change in STEM Universities". Her research interests include gender equality policy in the EU, institutional change in universities, essentialism, gender-based violence in academia and feminist institutionalism. Previously, she worked as a research associate at GESIS - Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, Germany, in two EU-funded projects, UniSAFE (2021-2024, Horizon 2020) and GEECCO (2017-2021, Horizon 2020).