IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/gender/v33y2026i1p234-245.html

How Gender Equity Schemes Might Inadvertently “Gender‐Wash” Universities, Provoke Backlash, and Propagate Inequality

Author

Listed:
  • Gail Crimmins
  • Sarah Casey
  • Kate Carruthers Thomas
  • Maria Tsouroufli

Abstract

This paper explores the work experience and career trajectories of people working across 12 UK‐based universities awarded an Athena Swan Charter, an international scheme that recognizes commitment to gender equality. Despite, or perhaps due to institutional reward leading to gender‐washed “peacocking”, everyday sexisms and gender regimes are sustained through acts of gendered microinsults that often go unnoticed and are individualized. Women in “awarded” institutions report being spoken over, disproportionately allocated academic housework, experience re/enforced gendered boundaries, and inadequate equality policy provision. They also identify microinvalidations through exclusion from meetings, mis/appropriation of their ideas, gender inequality denial, and overt or covert resistance to gender equity initiatives. An analysis of these microaggressions determines their interconnected, mutually constitutive, and reproductive nature; it suggests that institutional gender‐washing propagates a misconception of current levels of gender inequality which kindles “equity‐backlash”. The findings reveal unintended outcomes of gender award schemes that might be mitigated through visibilising and addressing inequality regimes and their impacts.

Suggested Citation

  • Gail Crimmins & Sarah Casey & Kate Carruthers Thomas & Maria Tsouroufli, 2026. "How Gender Equity Schemes Might Inadvertently “Gender‐Wash” Universities, Provoke Backlash, and Propagate Inequality," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(1), pages 234-245, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:33:y:2026:i:1:p:234-245
    DOI: 10.1111/gwao.70032
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.70032
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/gwao.70032?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marina Cacace & Francesca Pugliese & Charikleia Tzanakou & Jörg Müller & Alain Denis & Maria Sangiuliano, 2024. "Certifying complexity? The case of a European gender equality certification scheme for research-performing organizations," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 51(2), pages 261-273.
    2. E. Holly Buttner & Kevin B. Lowe, 2017. "Addressing Internal Stakeholders’ Concerns: The Interactive Effect of Perceived Pay Equity and Diversity Climate on Turnover Intentions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 143(3), pages 621-633, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Anita M. McGahan, 2023. "The New Stakeholder Theory on Organizational Purpose," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 8(2), pages 245-255, June.
    2. Isis H Settles & Sheila T Brassel & Patricia A Soranno & Kendra Spence Cheruvelil & Georgina M Montgomery & Kevin C Elliott, 2019. "Team climate mediates the effect of diversity on environmental science team satisfaction and data sharing," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(7), pages 1-15, July.
    3. Claudia Díaz‐Leyva & Rosalía Cascón‐Pereira, 2026. "Diversity and Social Sustainability: A Systematic Review and Integrative Framework for Advancing Socially Sustainable Diversity Management," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 33(2), pages 2949-2970, March.
    4. Hazal KORAY ALAY & Esin CAN, 2020. "The Evolution of Diversity Climate Research: A Review and Synthesis," Istanbul Business Research, Istanbul University Business School, vol. 49(1), pages 36-59, May.
    5. Ying Liu & Yongping Yu & Xiaoying Zeng & Yufei Li, 2023. "Linking Preschool Teachers’ Pay Equity and Turnover Intention in Chinese Public Kindergartens: The Mediating Role of Perceived Organizational Support and Job Satisfaction," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-17, September.
    6. Hui Feng & Kimberly A. Whitler & Michael A. Wiles, 2025. "Chief marketing officer pay: The revenue growth consequences of employing internal and external benchmarks," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 53(1), pages 255-278, January.
    7. Marwan Al‐Shammari & Soumendra Banerjee & Miguel Caldas & Krist Swimberghe, 2023. "Differential impact of chief executive officer tenure on the firm's external and internal corporate social responsibility: Moderating effects of firm's visibility and slack," Business Ethics, the Environment & Responsibility, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(3), pages 961-985, July.
    8. Potdar, Balkrushna & Garry, Tony & McNeill, Lisa & Gnoth, Juergen & Pandey, Rakesh & Mansi, Mansi & Guthrie, John, 2020. "Retail employee guardianship behaviour: A phenomenological investigation," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    9. Mehta, Nikhil & Mehta, Anju & Hassan, Yusuf & Buttner, Holly & RoyChowdhury, Sanchita, 2021. "Choices in CDO appointment and firm performance: Moving towards a Stakeholder-based approach," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 233-251.
    10. Susannah Bruns Ali & Mohamad Alkadry & Evelyn Rodriguez-Plesa & Ana Maria Dimand, 2025. "Perceptions vs. Realities of Pay: Exploring their Influence on the Choice to Leave," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 25(4), pages 2159-2179, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:33:y:2026:i:1:p:234-245. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0968-6673 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.