On the persistence of gender inequality: the case of informal workload allocation in a research-intensive university in the UK

This paper extends Martin’s framework of ‘practicing gender’ by showing how practices of informal workload allocation often contribute to reproducing the gender order, even in an organisation that claims to be committed to equality. As a case, the paper analyses informal workload allocation processes in one UK academic institution. Data were collected from 24 research participants, including academics and professional staff and women and men. Through the use of four composite narratives, the paper demonstrates that informal workload allocation might become a site for the emergence of gendering dynamics: instances where gender is practiced through interactions that look trivial but have a cumulative effect and hinder women’s careers. The gendering dynamics tend to intersect with seniority, age, and the institutional context, and are rarely challenged. Thus, the study shows one of the facets of persisting gender inequality, and extends Martin’s concept of gendering dynamic through the use of composite narratives.