A duoethnography: female academics’ experiences of gendered health issues at the intersection of middlescence, ethnic origin, social and professional status in the neoliberal academy
Abstract
Purpose
Gender inequality and age discrimination persist in the Higher Education (HE) sectors. The significance of gendered health at middlescence, including peri/menopause, is often negated. This article explores women’s lived experiences of gendered health issues at middlescence in the neoliberal academy through an intersectional lens.
Design/methodology/approach
Two female academics engaged in dialogic narrative using duoethnography addressing their experiences of gendered health issues in a UK Higher Education Institution (HEI). They recorded intentional written reflections and met to explore their experiences over a four month period. Thematic analysis was applied to analyse their responses.
Findings
Both women considered how they self-advocated for their own care at the stage of middlescence whilst seeking health support and in accessing accommodations in the HE workplace. This process impacted on the construction of their professional identity and on their self-concept as social work academics at the dynamic intersection of age, gender, ethnic, social and professional status.
Originality/value
This article uniquely foregrounds two female academics’ lived experiences of middlescence in a UK HEI conceptualised through an intersectional lens. Their experiences are explored in the context of gendered age discrimination in HE sectors that are perpetuated through masculinized forms of career progression and management. The concept of the ideal academic, a white male, unencumbered by domestic responsibilities, is contested through consideration of care ethics. We acknowledge that forms of epistemic injustice silence women’s narratives in the neoliberal academy but highlight recommendations to enable their stories of gendered health discrimination to be heard.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Dr Martin Fox, Professor Marie-Pierre Moreau and Linda Homan for reviewing the article. We are also very grateful to the journal reviewers whose comments enabled us to significantly improve the paper.
Citation
Fox, J. and Mano, I. (2024), "A duoethnography: female academics’ experiences of gendered health issues at the intersection of middlescence, ethnic origin, social and professional status in the neoliberal academy", Journal of Organizational Ethnography, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOE-02-2024-0007
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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