Women in Global Science: Advancing Academic Careers through International Collaboration

Author:   Kathrin Zippel
Publisher:   Stanford University Press
ISBN:  

9781503600393


Pages:   224
Publication Date:   21 March 2017
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
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Women in Global Science: Advancing Academic Careers through International Collaboration


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Overview

Scientific and engineering research is increasingly global, and international collaboration can be essential to academic success. Yet even as administrators and policymakers extol the benefits of global science, few recognize the diversity of international research collaborations and their participants, or take gendered inequalities into account. Women in Global Science is the first book to consider systematically the challenges and opportunities that the globalization of scientific work brings to U.S. academics, especially for women faculty. Kathrin Zippel looks to the STEM fields as a case study, where gendered cultures and structures in academia have contributed to an underrepresentation of women. While some have approached underrepresentation as a national concern with a national solution, Zippel highlights how gender relations are reconfigured in global academia. For U.S. women in particular, international collaboration offers opportunities to step outside of exclusionary networks at home. International collaboration is not the panacea to gendered inequalities in academia, but, as Zippel argues, international considerations can be key to ending the steady attrition of women in STEM fields and developing a more inclusive academic world.

Full Product Details

Author:   Kathrin Zippel
Publisher:   Stanford University Press
Imprint:   Stanford University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 1.60cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.499kg
ISBN:  

9781503600393


ISBN 10:   1503600394
Pages:   224
Publication Date:   21 March 2017
Audience:   General/trade ,  Professional and scholarly ,  College/higher education ,  General ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

"Contents and Abstracts1A World of Opportunity: Science, Gender, and Collaboration chapter abstractChapter 1 engages the reader by explaining the key questions, arguments, and theoretical concepts for the book. What happens when academic work globalizes, what kind of international research collaborations do STEM faculty engage in? It introduces the core argument that globalization of academia is a gendered process as global science is organized in gendered ways, such as the framework of glass fences and .edu bonus. This chapter also contextualizes U.S. leadership in global science and challenges to it by providing cross-nationally statistical information about current developments in the globalization of science and technological knowledge, including international collaborations, co-authorships, and R&D spending. 2Traveling Abroad, Coming Home: Ambivalent Discourses on the U.S. Role in (Global) Science chapter abstractChapter 2 examines the institutional context (U.S. funding institutions and universities) for faculty decisions about engagement in international collaboration and research. By analyzing U.S. faculty constructions of (global) science, it identifies how U.S. institutions position themselves globally. Part of this dynamic is the construction of international collaboration as an activity for elite faculty. And although claims to U.S. scientific supremacy persist, there also the call for ""national interest"" in maintaining its global position. The chapter further investigates the contrast between faculty perceptions of international research and collaborations as extremely positive—a highlight of their careers—and their experiences of lack of institutional recognition and support. Not surprisingly, given these competing imperatives, faculty members use contradictory rationales to explain why international academic work is meaningful to them in the context of constructions of U.S. superiority, competition, the universality of scientific work, and international research as a ""risky"" activity. 3The .edu Bonus: Gender, Academic Nationality, and Status chapter abstractThis chapter explains the benefits offered to women in international academic work. Cultural schemas for U.S. scientists reveal an .edu bonus that depicts U.S. scholars as competent and overshadows stereotypes of women as less so. Academics marginalized by gender, minority background, or field can benefit from the .edu bonus, drawing on the positive aspects of being a U.S. scholar in an international environment. Being a woman and a foreigner is thus a positive combination rather than an accumulation of disadvantages. Persistent stereotypes and myths hold that U.S. women scientists are not effective in cultural environments where no native women hold equal positions of power. But women scientists report that they are seen foremost as foreigners and treated as such, making their gender status less salient. This .edu bonus can serve to expand networks internationally and demonstrates the importance of analyzing the intersection of gender and foreigner status of U.S. scientists. 4Glass Fences: Gendered Organization of Global Academia chapter abstractChapter 4 focuses on glass fences, the various gendered challenges in international research collaborations. Academia is still organized in gendered ways, and gender is embedded in the international collaboration policies and practices of nation-states, funding agencies, universities, and researchers. The chapter illustrates how these fences emerge in specific international work settings and research practices, examining in particular the implications for women's access to and opportunities to participate in, organize, and operate international conferences, research sites, and fieldwork. Fences emerge when institutions and individuals construct safety abroad as a gendered issue. (Global) academia is gendered through the organization of academic work around norms, values, and expectations that fit the ideal of an elite male global scientist with the personal, social, and academic resources to climb fences. The very structure of international collaboration thus privileges men over women and re-creates gendered inequalities in academia, globally and in the United States. 5Families and International Mobility: Fences or Opportunities? chapter abstractThis chapter challenges the conventional wisdom that family barriers make it impossible for faculty to engage in international collaborations and mobility. Despite discourse that suggests children amplify family burdens for international research for mothers in particular, this chapter debunks the notion that families (meaning young children) construct an insurmountable fence for women and hinder international work only for mothers. Instead, diverse family commitments in various constellations can potentially be constraining, but they can also motivate and even support research abroad. Faculty with international family ties might have extra incentive to spend time in other countries and forge transnational academic careers, while ""portable"" or ""supportive"" partners (or lack thereof) can be another important factor in individual mobility and the ability to engage in international collaborations. 6Toward an Inclusive World of (Global) Academia chapter abstractThis chapter considers implications for institutions. Funding agencies and universities need to design internationalization strategies that recognize the diversity of both international research collaborations and their participants and take gender inequalities at the international and national level into account. The chapter suggests concrete ways to support international research collaborations that are inclusive of women, for example, being transparent about support allocation, eliminating obstacles and fences through bureaucratic procedures and policies, and ""broadening participation"" along demographic lines."

Reviews

Kathrin Zippel offers a compelling examination of the benefits and barriers to international collaboration for American women scientists. Her pathbreaking work challenges how we think about gender and academia and provides a blueprint for studying the globalization of science. A fascinating book that scientists should read. -- Frank Dobbin * Harvard University * This is an excellent book on an unexplored question: How does academic globalization affect opportunities for women and other historically underrepresented groups on American STEM faculties? Zippel's empirical analysis is rigorous and makes a significant contribution to the analysis of gender and racial stratification in the STEM academy and workforce. -- Maria Charles, University of California * Santa Barbara * Zippel's book reveals the benefits women may get from their national status when they work abroad, but also exposes the barriers to international collaborations for women. Her pathbreaking analysis highlights the paradoxes that university systems create by deeming global connections important but making them unnecessarily difficult. A must-read for those in STEM fields. -- Myra Marx Ferree * University of Wisconsin-Madison *


This is an excellent book on an unexplored question: How does academic globalization affect opportunities for women and other historically underrepresented groups on American STEM faculties? Zippel's empirical analysis is rigorous and makes a significant contribution to the analysis of gender and racial stratification in the STEM academy and workforce. -Maria Charles, University of California, Santa Barbara Zippel's book reveals the benefits women may get from their national status when they work abroad, but also exposes the barriers to international collaborations for women. Her pathbreaking analysis highlights the paradoxes that university systems create by deeming global connections important but making them unnecessarily difficult. A must-read for those in STEM fields. -Myra Marx Ferree, University of Wisconsin-Madison Kathrin Zippel offers a compelling examination of the benefits and barriers to international collaboration for American women scientists. Her pathbreaking work challenges how we think about gender and academia and provides a blueprint for studying the globalization of science. A fascinating book that scientists should read. -Frank Dobbin, Harvard University


Author Information

Kathrin Zippel is Associate Professor of Sociology at Northeastern University. She is the author of The Politics of Sexual Harassment: A Comparative Study of the United States, the European Union, and Germany (2006), winner of the APSA Victoria Schuck Award.

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