infonet-economy

‘Scientific excellence’, ‘gender’ and their interplay have been on the political agenda for more than a decade. We have ample evidence for the existence of gender bias in selection procedures. Furthermore, what counts as ‘scientific excellence’ has been criticized as inherently problematic. The ‘ideal researcher’ at work in many disciplines still seems to be white, male, without family responsibilities and ready to sacrifice the full person to the ‘greedy occupation’ of academia. At the same time, the emphasis on excellence has pushed the need for formal procedures and transparency and hence also contributed to the development of gender equality. In my talk I will explore the different ways in which ‘gender’ and ‘scientific excellence’ come together in 12 qualitative interviews that we conducted with both gender equality experts and/or members of decision-making bodies in higher education in Switzerland. Based on a discourse analytical reading I will point out the different consequences resulting from these various meetings between gender and excellence in their talk.