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Gender, Power and Higher Education in a Globalised World pp 139–161Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

#MeToo in Professional Associations: Harassment, Gender, and Power

Part of the Palgrave Studies in Gender and Education book series (GED)

Abstract

The #MeToo movement highlighted that sexual harassment continues to impede progress towards gender equity in institutions across society. In science and academia, professional associations are an often untapped—but potentially important—resource for addressing sexual harassment and gender equity. They mirror and potentially recreate power differentials in academic hierarchical institutions, however they also have the potential to ameliorate (gendered) inequalities. Professional associations set norms for professional behaviour, ethics, and research integrity for example, at conferences, in communications, and in selecting their members for awards and gatekeeping positions. Together with universities and funding agencies, professional associations can help to frame gender and sexual harassment as violations of ethical norms and research integrity in order to combat harassment and promote gender equity in the academy.

Keywords

  • Gender equity
  • Power
  • Sexual harassment
  • Professional associations
  • #MeToo
  • Organisations

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Notes

  1. 1.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/14/science/geoffrey-marcy-berkeley-astronomy-faculty-letter.html.

  2. 2.

    https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/scholars-boycott-meeting%2D%2Dciting-misconduct-accusations-66377.

  3. 3.

    https://medium.com/@ConferenceEshe/european-society-for-the-study-of-human-evolution-sexual-harassment-and-jean-jacques-hublin-cacb082728a9.

  4. 4.

    https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/scientific-societies-update-policies-to-address%2D%2Dmetoo%2D%2D66492.

  5. 5.

    https://www.transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/resources/NTDS_Report.pdf.

  6. 6.

    https://theprofessorisin.com/2017/12/01/a-crowdsourced-survey-of-sexual-harassment-in-the-academy/.

  7. 7.

    https://abcnews.go.com/US/News/california-restaurant-color-coded-system-staff-combat-sexual/story?id=54420861.

  8. 8.

    https://www.nmz.de/kiz/nachrichten/offizielle-stellungnahme-von-fachguppen-der-gesellschaft-fuer-musikforschung-in-sach?fbclid=IwAR10EOa9Tt-mVP5mr3CpdlXqZpWaot4u_WuVzI-CmXbuVDKjew4o3UZPqWU.

  9. 9.

    https://harassment.agu.org/.

  10. 10.

    https://serc.carleton.edu/advancegeo/index.html.

  11. 11.

    https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/04/geophysics-society-hopes-define-sexual-harassment-scientific-misconduct.

  12. 12.

    https://www.nih.gov/about-nih/who-we-are/nih-director/statements/update-nihs-efforts-address-sexual-harassment-science.

  13. 13.

    https://www.lawandsociety.org/docs/Letter%20to%20LSA%20Members%20policy.pdf.

  14. 14.

    https://socwomen.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Feb.27.19.AwardsPolicy.pdf.

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Acknowledgments

I would like to acknowledge the editors Kate White and Pat O’Connor and the other contributors of this volume for their terrific constructive suggestions. Many thanks also to Celene Reynolds and the other participants of the Gender/Power/Theory Workshop in Chicago in 2019 for their helpful critical questions and comments. Finally thanks to Hannah Gallagher for her research assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA

    Kathrin Zippel PhD

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  1. Kathrin Zippel PhD
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Correspondence to Kathrin Zippel PhD .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland

    Dr. Pat O'Connor

  2. School of Education, Federation University, Ballarat, VIC, Australia

    Dr. Kate White

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Zippel, K. (2021). #MeToo in Professional Associations: Harassment, Gender, and Power. In: O'Connor, P., White, K. (eds) Gender, Power and Higher Education in a Globalised World. Palgrave Studies in Gender and Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69687-0_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69687-0_7

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