The paper seeks to evaluate the views of manager‐academics on gender equity and research in one UK institution.
The paper draws on semi‐structured interviews with 22 manager‐academics in one UK institution, against a context of national data.
It was found that manager‐academics had little knowledge of the conceptual issues surrounding gender equity and used a discourse of choice and agency to explain continuing inequalities in the research careers of women academics.
While the case study was carried out in one institution, it replicates many of the issues raised by national studies and data.
Good practice in encouraging gender equity for women academics engaged in research includes role models, confidence and support networks, gender awareness training for managers, mentoring and building networks.
The paper provides new empirical data on gender equity and research in one UK university and critically analyses the gap between theory on gender equity and practice of manager‐academics. It provides a link between a micro‐agentic viewpoint and a meso‐institutional viewpoint and suggests that both these as well as a macro national and supranational view will give a fuller analysis of the issue of gender equity and research careers for women academics.
