EXPERIENCING EVERYDAY SEXISMS
Understanding and Addressing Everyday Sexisms used vignettes at the beginning of the large-scale mixed methods survey. These vignettes were constructed using real experiences of sexisms in universities that were shared with the research team via interviews.
Below is one of the nine vignettes used in the survey. The survey asked academics to indicate their dis/agreement with a series of statements. Analyses compared responses from men to those from women and gender diverse academics.
The following vignette is one of nine that were part of the national survey. Each was based on a person’s experience of everyday sexisms at work. Some elements have been changed to protect their anonymity. In the national survey of Australian academics, participants were asked their opinions about the example.
ACTIVITY
A Vignette : Everyday Sexisms in a Staff Meeting
“I am the Dean of the School of Science at my university. I moved to Australia from Singapore to take this position. I am the only woman ever to have held this position, but not the first Asian Dean.
The other day I was running a staff meeting and one of my male colleagues kept pressing me on the issue of lab time for our students. The discussion got heated, and my colleague was patronising and dismissive of my ideas. I was left wondering if male Deans get spoken to like that or is this just a cultural difference in Australia?”
Responses were measured on a 6-point Likert scale that you can see on the left of this page. Explore the findings by hovering your mouse over the questions below.
Likert Scale for the measure range
(1) Strongly disagree;
(2) Disagree;
(3) Somewhat disagree;
(4) Somewhat agree;
(5) Agree;
(6) Strongly agree.
“This feels problematic to me.”
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WHAT DID WOMEN AND GENDER DIVERSE PEOPLE SAY?The average for women and gender diverse academics was
5.15
Both groups of academics agreed at near-equal levels that this encounter was problematic. -
WHAT DID MEN SAY?The average for men academics was
4.94
Both groups of academics agreed at near-equal levels that this encounter was problematic.
"I think this sort of encounter happens frequently in Australian universities."
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WHAT DID WOMEN AND GENDER DIVERSE PEOPLE SAY?The average for women and gender diverse academics was
4.81
Women and gender diverse academics were statistically significantly more likely to agree that encounters like this happen frequently in Australian universities. -
WHAT DID MEN SAY?The average for men academics was
4.01
Women and gender diverse academics were statistically significantly more likely to agree that encounters like this happen frequently in Australian universities.
"This feels realistic to me."
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WHAT DID WOMEN AND GENDER DIVERSE PEOPLE SAY?The average for women and gender diverse academics was
5.08
Women and gender diverse academics were statistically significantly more likely to agree that encounters like this happen frequently in Australian universities. -
WHAT DID MEN SAY?The average for men academics was
4.42
Women and gender diverse academics were statistically significantly more likely to agree that encounters like this happen frequently in Australian universities.
"Universities have a responsibility to intervene - either at an individual or a systemic level - when encounters of this nature occur."
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WHAT DID WOMEN AND GENDER DIVERSE PEOPLE SAY?The average for women and gender diverse academics was
5.01
Women and gender diverse academics were more likely to agree that universities have a responsibility to intervene when encounters like this happen. -
WHAT DID MEN SAY?The average for men academics was
4.66
Women and gender diverse academics were more likely to agree that universities have a responsibility to intervene when encounters like this happen.
While, on average, all participating academics agreed that this vignette of everyday sexisms was problematic, there were some interesting differences for the other items.
Women and gender diverse academics were significantly more likely than men to agree:
• that this vignette was realistic;
• that encounters like this happen frequently; and,
• that universities should intervene.
CLOSE
Women and gender diverse academics were significantly more likely than men to agree:
• that this vignette was realistic;
• that encounters like this happen frequently; and,
• that universities should intervene.
CLOSE