Sacrifices in Greedy Universities: Are they gendered?

Abstract

Abstract In 1995-97, a research team interviewed a cross-section of staff in two Australian public universities about the sacrifices they had to make to pursue their careers. This article discusses the responses of the staff who participated in this study. It uses Coser's concept of the 'greedy institution' to describe the hold which universities have over their staff and details the range of personal and professional sacrifices which staff made in order to be part of their university culture. Comparisons are drawn between male and female staff, academic and general staff, and the two universities which participated in this study. It is concluded that the overall impact of current economistic and neoliberal discourses are such as to minimise differences on each of these scores and produce a certain uniformity of response across site, gender and occupational status. The article suggests that this apparent uniformity is the product of a peak masculinist discourse used mainly by those in the more powerful positions in these institutions, which acts to disenfranchise all those who do not operate within its restricted and restrictive boundaries.