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From Dystopian Academia to Utopian Sororal Counterspaces: A Collaborative Autoethnography of Women Academics in Business Schools

Author

Listed:
  • Roula Gergess
  • Natalia Vershinina
  • Amal Abdellatif

Abstract

The contemporary business school is increasingly portrayed as dystopian, shaped by neoliberal managerialism, metric‐driven performativity, and precarious labor. These pressures weigh heaviest on women academics, whose careers are fractured by intersecting lines of gender, race, class, and citizenship. Drawing on a year‐long collaborative autoethnography involving three women scholars situated in three distinct national systems, this article interrogates the everyday dystopias of academic life and maps the emergence of sororal counterspaces: utopian pockets of solidarity, care, and collective resistance that materializes within, against, and beyond the neoliberal academy. By weaving feminist political economy, intersectionality, and utopian studies with dialogic vignettes, we demonstrate how practicing sorority transcends entrenched institutional boundaries, rehumanizes academic subjectivities, and offers concrete mechanisms for change. We conclude with a framework for cultivating sororal counterspaces and ritualizing solidarity and a call for gender‐equitable, care‐centered business schools.

Suggested Citation

  • Roula Gergess & Natalia Vershinina & Amal Abdellatif, 2026. "From Dystopian Academia to Utopian Sororal Counterspaces: A Collaborative Autoethnography of Women Academics in Business Schools," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(3), pages 1137-1147, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:33:y:2026:i:3:p:1137-1147
    DOI: 10.1111/gwao.70098
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Amal Abdellatif & Ajnesh Prasad, 2024. "How Does Legal Status Inform Immigrant Agency During Encounters of Workplace Incivility?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 194(4), pages 775-787, November.
    2. Ajnesh Prasad, 2025. "Transcending Boundaries: Reimagining the Possibilities of Scholarship," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(5), pages 1677-1680, September.
    3. KerryAnn O’Meara & Alexandra Kuvaeva & Gudrun Nyunt, 2017. "Constrained Choices: A View of Campus Service Inequality From Annual Faculty Reports," The Journal of Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 88(5), pages 672-700, September.
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