How mechanisms implicated in the collective process of academic hiring in France affect discrimination

Christine Musselin (1) , Frédérique Pigeyre (2)

1 CSO - Centre de sociologie des organisations (Sciences Po, CNRS)
2 IRG - Institut de Recherche en Gestion

How may procedures in effect for hiring junior professors in France affect discrimination against women candidates? On the basis of detailed surveys and interviews with members of hiring committees in three disciplines, we explain how the specificities of the academic hiring process affect direct and indirect discrimination. Judgment practices on hiring committees are shown to be permeable to types of indirect gender discrimination, while various tools (a grid for evaluating candidate applications, explicitly defined selection criteria, etc.) and arrangements (publicizing proceedings, diversifying committee make-up, collegial decision-making, etc.) allow for circumscribing or containing possible direct discrimination.

Keywords: Direct discrimination; Indirect discrimination; Hiring; Collective decision-making; Gender; Judgment practices; Decision-making tools; Universities; Academics; France

Domains: Humanities and Social Sciences; Sociology; Humanities and Social Sciences; Education

Christine Musselin, Frédérique Pigeyre. How mechanisms implicated in the collective process of academic hiring in France affect discrimination. Sociologie du Travail, 2009, 51 (supplément 2), pp.81-103. ⟨10.1016/j.soctra.2009.06.021⟩. ⟨hal-02892077⟩