Dialogue on gender and race equality: Conversations between Sweden and South Africa

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into certain themes and discourses that have emerged from two research projects on gender and racial equality in higher education in Sweden and South Africa.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on discourse analysis using a Foucauldian lens, and Universalism concepts premised on Robert Merton's scientific narratives, social texts are analysed to bring out diversity themes that shape individual research identities as positioned in South Africa and Sweden.

Findings

The findings indicate that two common themes have emerged during the research process: marginalized discourses of ethnicity and “race” as these emerge in the appointment process; and institutional culture and language. Despite the obvious differences between the countries there appear to be similar discourses at work in the education policy documents such as “gender equality” and “diversity”. The themes listed above appeared to be central for understanding how “gender equality” and “diversity” strategies operate through ethicised/racialized discourses in researchers' everyday academic lives in similar but not identical contexts.

Research limitations/implications

To be able to determine if these findings can be abstracted to a more general level, further investigations on how gender and race/ethnicity operate in the everyday lives of researchers in different socio‐cultural contexts will need to be conducted.

Originality/value

The paper offers new insights into how global discourses on “gender equality” and “diversity” operate in similar but not identical academic contexts and how academics respond to them on the level of social interaction as well as on the level of institutional culture.

Citation

Mählck, P. and Thaver, B. (2010), "Dialogue on gender and race equality: Conversations between Sweden and South Africa", Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Vol. 29 No. 1, pp. 23-37. https://doi.org/10.1108/02610151011019192