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Transnational mobility among early-career academics: gendered aspects of negotiations and arrangements within heterosexual couples
Date de parution
2017-5-5
In
Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies
Vol.
8
No
43
De la page
1292
A la page
1307
Revu par les pairs
1
Résumé
Today, transnational mobility is often presented as indispensable for
a successful academic career. This institutionalisation of
transnational mobility for young academics has important effects
in (re)producing or transforming gender inequalities. Building on
the results of a qualitative study conducted at three universities –
Zurich (Switzerland), UCLA (U.S.A), and Cambridge (UK) – this
paper examines the mobility experiences of early-career
academics and their partners and seeks to understand the
gendered mechanisms underlying mobility patterns. Drawing on
three case studies, this paper focuses on the negotiations and
arrangements of mobile couples. Each case study represents a
different ideal-typical pattern of how gender is entangled with
mobility. We show how gender is ‘done’ and ‘undone’ by the
academics and their partners throughout these mobility
trajectories, and how these couples’ negotiations and practices are
closely entangled with gender representations that are structurally
anchored in labour markets and discursively expressed within the
wider social environment. As such, this paper questions the
dichotomy between economic men and social and cultural
women sometimes reproduced in studies on highly skilled
migration. Furthermore, the findings challenge earlier studies that
suggest a causal link between mobility and the leaky pipeline by
showing that important transformations with regard to gender
relations are occurring.
a successful academic career. This institutionalisation of
transnational mobility for young academics has important effects
in (re)producing or transforming gender inequalities. Building on
the results of a qualitative study conducted at three universities –
Zurich (Switzerland), UCLA (U.S.A), and Cambridge (UK) – this
paper examines the mobility experiences of early-career
academics and their partners and seeks to understand the
gendered mechanisms underlying mobility patterns. Drawing on
three case studies, this paper focuses on the negotiations and
arrangements of mobile couples. Each case study represents a
different ideal-typical pattern of how gender is entangled with
mobility. We show how gender is ‘done’ and ‘undone’ by the
academics and their partners throughout these mobility
trajectories, and how these couples’ negotiations and practices are
closely entangled with gender representations that are structurally
anchored in labour markets and discursively expressed within the
wider social environment. As such, this paper questions the
dichotomy between economic men and social and cultural
women sometimes reproduced in studies on highly skilled
migration. Furthermore, the findings challenge earlier studies that
suggest a causal link between mobility and the leaky pipeline by
showing that important transformations with regard to gender
relations are occurring.
Autre version
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2017.1300254
Type de publication
Resource Types::text::journal::journal article
