"Chaque Professeur a Son Chien et son Assistant": Micro-Patriarchal Organization Violations in Academia

Abstract

This article uses stories to explore the concept of micro-patriarchal organization violations and the emotional character of those violations. The stories are those of three women academics, who work for Portuguese universities, and they illustrate how women accommodate to micro-patriarchal organization violations by buffering, suppressing, and/or neutralizing undesired feelings and emotions. The study shows that women’s agency is marked by both advancements and setbacks in defying the male statu quo, and this is the case because women’s actions have to be understood as nonreflexive concerning the (un)intended consequences of the doing of gender. As an unintended side effect, all of the women in the study seem self-estranged from true emotions.