Abstract
What constitutes ‘success’ in academia and how has that notion shifted in the last decade? The norms of transitioning from post-graduate studies into a lectureship or professorship have changed in an environment where those posts are decreasingly available and where many scholars become employed in non-academic posts while simultaneously engaging in academic endeavors. In the midst of this changing landscape, the inherent tension between being a feminist and participating in a competitive academic environment further complicates traditional notions about ‘success.’ The tension of being a feminist in an academic space begins in student life with the expectation that we are all competing with one another (for grades, for that conference slot, for a publication) and becomes a deeply entrenched aspect of academic life once the degree has been completed. Drawing on the ups and downs of life as a partial academic, holding a non-academic post and yet using personal time to continue to engage in academic endeavors, I will consider the ways the academic environment—while theoretically promoting feminism through feminist programs—as a system itself undermines and devalues feminist pursuits, rewarding instead decidedly nonfeminist goals through competition and individual achievement over group endeavors. Redefining what counts as academic success is the result both of a shifting employment market and of feminist engagement within a system that rewards un-feminist goals and aspirations; notions about success and failure within feminist academic endeavors subsequently recast what it is to ‘be’ an academic today.
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Notes
- 1.
Objections to women’s and gender studies programs have primarily focused on the notion that these programs exclude the study of men and masculinity. Although that is not necessarily true, many programs examine gender across multiple intersections, in particular, beyond male/female binaries; however others have argued the need to create women’s studies programs has been precisely because of the oversight of female roles across departments and programs. Increasingly, men’s rights activists, however, have argued that they are discriminated against in the ‘feminist institution,’ see, for example, Teitel (2013).
- 2.
Rosalind Franklin’s pioneering work led to the discovery of the molecular structures of DNA, though her role was predominantly unrecognized until after her death. James Watson and Francis Crick took credit for the discovery in 1953, although their work was based on Franklin’s own yet-to-be-published research—which was shared without her knowledge (Worthen 2016).
- 3.
Margaret Keane’s now infamous experience of art fraud at the hands of husband, Walter Keane, saw Walter taking credit for her paintings for decades until she finally revealed the truth to a reporter in 1970. Their case ended up in court when Margaret sued Walter; she was finally recognized for her art when the judge challenged both Walter and Margaret to paint one of the ‘big-eyed children’ that Walter Keane had become famous for—and he failed (Ronson 2014).
- 4.
Corey Cogdell-Unrein’s bronze medal performance at the Rio Olympics in 2016 was quickly overshadowed when media outlets, the Chicago Tribune and others, posting stories about her medal without referring to her by name, and instead only referencing her in relation to her husband and NFL player for the Chicago Bears. Media outlets referred to Cogdell-Unrein solely as ‘the wife’ of an NFL player, subsuming her professional successes under the name and profession of her husband (Lombardo 2016). The lack of recognition of female athletes is a widespread issue, facing women in multiple sporting venues. For more see Cambridge University Press (2016) online: http://www.cambridge.org/about-us/news/aest/
- 5.
- 6.
Canada has 98 accredited universities but securing an accurate count of colleges is a bit more difficult; not all colleges are accredited and some are private. Ontario alone has 24 colleges, but it is difficult to get a final count across the country.
- 7.
I had a female student in one of the first courses I taught tell me at the end of the semester that she was really pleased with the way I taught the sexuality studies course because when she saw me the first day she thought, based on my attire, that I must be ‘a prude.’ I frequently wonder whether male professors are on the receiving end of these kinds of comments.
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Shipley, H. (2018). Failure to Launch? Feminist Endeavors as a Partial Academic. In: Taylor, Y., Lahad, K. (eds) Feeling Academic in the Neoliberal University. Palgrave Studies in Gender and Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64224-6_2
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