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Made for Men: Political Science Departments in the United States as Gendered Institutions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 August 2023

Annika Marlen Hinze Open the ORCID record for Annika Marlen Hinze [Opens in a new window]
Annika Marlen Hinze*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Fordham University, New York, NY, USA
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Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

This article examines women’s perceptions of and experiences with institutional norms in political science departments and their institutions. Conceptually, it builds on feminist institutionalism. Specifically, it examines the broad institutional norms, formal and informal, that define political science departments within their larger institutions, as well as potential avenues for change. I argue that a “critical mass” of women in academic departments and the presence of “critical actors” in departmental and university leadership positions sympathetic to the cause and powerful enough to implement change can bring about institutional reforms. To that end, I conducted a survey among 1,273 female PhD students and faculty members in political science departments across the United States. The survey questions revolve around women’s perceptions of institutional gender norms, the way they are judged by them, their ability to have professional success under them, and their (or others’) ability to change them. After discussing the survey results within the context of feminist institutional theory, I offer some conclusions about the positions of women in political science departments in the United States, the implications of this for the profession at-large, and some thoughts on avenues for future research on the issue.

Keywords

women in political sciencefeminist institutionalismcritical masscritical actors
Type
Research Article
Information
Politics & Gender , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , March 2024 , pp. 104 - 136
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Women, Gender, and Politics Research Section of the American Political Science Association

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