Deservingness and backlash: How gendered advantage is built and defended in equity-accredited universities

Gail Crimmins; Sarah Casey; Gemma J.M. Read; Elvessa Marshall; Maria Tsouroufli; Sarah Barnard

doi:10.1016/j.wsif.2026.103447

Back

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

PUBLISHED

Deservingness and backlash: How gendered advantage is built and defended in equity-accredited universities

Gail Crimmins, Sarah Casey, Gemma J.M. Read, Elvessa Marshall, Maria Tsouroufli and Sarah Barnard

Women's Studies International Forum, Vol.120, pp.1-7

2027

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2026.103447

Files and links (1)

pdf

Deservingness and backlash: How gendered advantage is built and defended in equity-accredited universities499.92 kBDownload View

Published Version Open Access CC BY V4.0

Abstract

Gender equity

Higher education

Athena Swan

Backlash

Deservingness

Despite sustained investment in gender-equity initiatives, hierarchies of authority, legitimacy and reward remain entrenched in higher education. This paper synthesises two staff surveys conducted in Athena Swan-accredited institutions in the United Kingdom and SAGE Athena Swan-accredited institutions in Australia. We develop a processual account of how gendered advantage is accumulated and defended within institutions recognised for equity progress. Across the studies, encouragement, sponsorship, workload protection and recognition operated as informal judgements of deservingness that shaped who entered formal evaluation with credibility and institutional momentum. Resistance became more visible when equity initiatives rendered these arrangements contestable, appearing through appeals to merit, reverse-discrimination claims and institutional withdrawal. We theorise these mechanisms as operating at different organisational speeds: deservingness is slow, cumulative and ordinarily obscured, whereas backlash is faster, reactive and more visible. Backlash is therefore treated as diagnostic evidence of the status, resources and authority being defended. This framework explains how accreditation can generate substantial activity while leaving informal distributions of legitimacy comparatively intact.

Details

Title: Deservingness and backlash: How gendered advantage is built and defended in equity-accredited universities
Authors: Gail Crimmins (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast
Sarah Casey - University of the Sunshine Coast
Gemma J.M. Read - University of the Sunshine Coast
Elvessa Marshall - University of the Sunshine Coast
Maria Tsouroufli - Brunel University of London
Sarah Barnard - Loughborough University
Publication details: Women's Studies International Forum, Vol.120, pp.1-7
Publisher: Elsevier Ltd
Date published: 2027
DOI: 10.1016/j.wsif.2026.103447
ISSN: 1879-243X
Grant note: This research was supported by SAGE Athena Swan through research assistant funding of AUD $600.
Organisation Unit: Centre for Human Factors and Systems Science; School of Business and Creative Industries; Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation); School of Health - Psychology
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991269096202621
Output Type: Journal article

Metrics

1 Record Views