The Silent Standpoint: How Professors Explain Gender Disparities in Academia

Abstract

Based on 77 qualitative interviews with professors in higher education, this article explores the interviewees' opinions on how gender disparities in academia should be explained. We show that male professors relate women's career barriers to family factors and women's own interests and preferences. In contrast, female professors favour explanations at the university level, for example lack of recognition of women, implicit bias in evaluations, male networks and an unwelcoming academic culture. Furthermore, we identify a ‘silent standpoint’ among the participating male professors: the idea that women are generally less qualified than men as candidates for full professorships. The article draws on sociological accounting theories, focussing on the ‘excuses’ and ‘justifications’ used by professors when discussing gender issues. Male professors ‘excuse’ gender disparities in academia by referring to women's preferences or ‘justify’ them by appealing to meritocratic standards. Entangled in these ‘neutralising’ accounts is the silent standpoint regarding women's low qualifications, a standpoint, however, that is difficult for male professors to articulate in an interview with a female colleague.