Female Empowerment in
Science and Tecnology Academia
Handbook On Resistance
To Gender Equality In Academia
Festa Resistance And Gender Main Causes & Indicators Main Forms & Symptoms Recommendations Analysis Of Stories Conclusion & References

MAIN FORMS & SYMPTOMS of RESISTANCE

The concept of resistance we employ in this handbook is multidimensional including ten main types:

  • Active/Passive,
  • Implicit/Explicit,
  • Gender specific / Non-Gender specific,
  • Individual/Group/Personal and Institutional resistance.
Below a brief description is given of the binary oppositions. 
ACTIVE/PASSIVE RESISTANCE
An active and passive dichotomy of resistance is generally understood as two opposite forms of resistance, which tells about the “activity of resistance” . Pincus (2000) relates passive resistance mainly to the act of “being silent” while active resistance is mainly associated with “subversive action”. 
Active resistance points at the ways in which one takes action to prevent an implementation whereas passive resistance corresponds to the behavior of non-doing. Passive forms of resistance weaken the change/implementation with not taking an action, which results in non-cooperativeness and ignorance. 
 
Hultman (2003) listed the signs of those behaviors corresponding to active resistance as being critical, fault finding, ridiculing, blaming/ accusing, blocking, manipulating, raising objections, etc. Passive resistance, according to him, referred mainly to such behaviors as agreeing verbally, but not following through, dragging feet, withholding information, suggestions, help, standing by and allowing the change to fail, etc. 
 
For recording the resistance cases in FESTA activities we defined active resistance as specific actions that aim to prevent an implementation and passive resistance as the act of withdrawal from an action to prevent it. 
 

View Related Stories (ACTIVE)
 
Women are not born for Science 
Resistance against EU projects 
No need to Hide Hostility 
Objections from a Female Researcher 
Resistance from Academic Council 
Resistance against a FESTA ally 
Shooting the Messenger 
Science is an Elite Sport 
Women Uncomfortable with Gender 
Refusal to Engage with Gender Equality Project 
Lack of Interest/Resistance to Learning about Gender 
Burned Out Woman 
When There’s no Benefit 
Resistance from New Head of Department 
Participation in big events 
Choose The Right Way to Communicate 

 
View Related Stories (PASSIVE)
 
No Funding For Gender Equality Work 
Introduce Gender to High-Level Management 
Standing in front of an “All is Well” – Wall 
Fear of Feminism 
Resistance to Reflect One’s Own Role 
Delicate Matter of Sharing Information 
Not All Women Cooperate 
Negativism and Low Interest About Gender Equality 
Lack of Commitment to Gender Equality Work 
Mismatch of Gender Policy and Gender Reality 
Low interest in Workshops 
Convince People That On- The – Job Actions Are Needed 
Silence Speaks 
Official Communication To (Male - Dominated) Groups 
Reach Out to The Schools 
EXPLICIT/IMPLICIT RESISTANCE
Asking whether a resistance incident is explicit or implicit, indicates an evaluation of its visibility . Hollander and Einwohner (2004), prefer to call differences in visibility with the following concepts “overt and covert”. In this handbook, explicit/implicit dichotomy will also be employed to refer to overt / covert typology. 
Explicit resistance is easy to recognize mainly because the resisting person shows an apparent and open kind of opposition while implicit resistance is often harder to recognize. The resisting person in such cases may not be comfortable with the resistance he/she is performing and chooses an obscure method of employing it. 
 
It has been suggested (Conner, 1988; Gravenhorst, 2003) that as covert resistance can be more difficult to identify and deal with, overt resistance should be encouraged by managers, who would like to pursue a change in their organizations. “Covert resistance can go unnoticed until it destroys their change project” and thus, an explicit resistance is preferable, to be able to recognize and deal with, then an implicit one, deliberately hidden from view (Hollander and Einwohner, 2004). 
 
Behavioral intentions to resist change are viewed as having the capacity to be both overt and covert, and active or passive (Hendrickson and Gray,2012; Bovey and Hade,2001). 
 
View Related Stories (EXPLICIT)
 
Women are not born for Science
Resistance against EU projects
No need to Hide Hostility
Objections from a Female Researcher
Resistance from Academic Council
Resistance against a FESTA ally
Shooting the Messenger
Science is an Elite Sport 
Women Uncomfortable with Gender
Refusal to Engage with Gender Equality Project 
Lack of Interest/Resistance to Learning about Gender
Burned Out Woman
When There’s no Benefit
Resistance from New Head of Department 
Participation in big events
Choose The Right Way to Communicate
No Funding FOR Gender Equality Work
Resistance to Reflect One’s Own Role
Delicate Matter of Sharing Information
Not All Women Cooperate
Negativism and Low Interest About Gender Equality 
Objections from a Female Researcher
Lack of Commitment to Gender Equality Work  
Low interest in Workshops
 
 
View Related Stories (IMPLICIT)
 
Introduce Gender to High-Level Management 
Standing in front of an “All is Well” – Wall 
Fear of Feminism 
Mismatch of Gender Policy and Gender Reality 
Convince People That On- The – Job Actions Are Needed 
Silence Speaks 
Official Communication To (Male - Dominated) Groups 
Reach Out to The Schools 
GENDER SPECIFIC/NON GENDER SPECIFIC RESISTANCE
The work package on resistance -WP7- was carried out with an understanding that there is no difference between “the resistance against the project-FESTA” and “the resistance against structural change towards gender equality”. However, when resistance against the project is considered, there is always the possibility that it is a kind of resistance encountered in other EU projects as well. Some of the resistance stories, which were recorded during the implementation of FESTA, therefore, may not necessarily implicate resistance against structural change towards gender equality or because FESTA is a “gender project” and aims at an enhancement of female researchers’ careers. Resistance may also be generally related to processes of change (Lombardo and Mergeart, 2012), heavy bureaucracy or personal conflicts. 
 
In order to make the necessary distinction, the categories of gender specific and non-gender specific resistance were introduced in the study. By the gender specific resistance is meant the kind of behavior aimed to prevent an implementation for gender equality in the relevant institution. Non gender specific resistance on the other hand does not specifically aim to curtail gender equality although it creates various kinds of obstacles for the project. 
 
View Related Stories (GENDER SPECIFIC)
 
Women are not born for Science 
Introduce Gender to High-Level Management 
Resistance against EU projects 
Fear of Feminism 
Not all Women Cooperate 
No need to Hide Hostility 
Negativism and Low Interest About Gender Equality 
Objections from a Female Researcher 
Resistance from Academic Council 
Resistance against a FESTA ally 
Shooting the Messenger 
Refusal to Engage with Gender Equality Project 
Science is an Elite Sport 
Women Uncomfortable with Gender 
Lack of Interest/Resistance to Learning about Gender 
Lack of Commitment to Gender Equality Work 
Mismatch of Gender Policy and Gender Reality 
Burned Out Woman 
When There’s no Benefit 
Convince People That On- The – Job Actions Are Needed 
Silence Speaks 
Resistance from New Head of Department 
Participation in big events
Choose The Right Way to Communicate 
Official Communication To (Male - Dominated) Groups 
Reach Out to The Schools 
 
View Related Stories (NON GENDER SPECIFIC)
 
No Funding For Gender Equality Work 
Standing in front of an “All is Well” – Wall 
Resistance to Reflect One’s Own Role 
Delicate Matter of Sharing Information 
Low interest in Workshops 
INDIVIDUAL/GROUP RESISTANCE
The number of persons involved in the resistance is the signifying factor in this kind of a dichotomy. The individual is the most important element of the whole academic system since the personal characteristics and development influence even institutional policies and practices through the positions occupied and the power in hand. Individual resistance refers to types of resistance coming from a single person while group resistance refers to a resistance emerging from a collection of individuals. 
 
View Related Stories (INDIVIDUAL)
 
No Funding for Gender Equality Work 
Women Are Not Born for Science 
Introduce Gender to High-Level Management 
Fear of Feminism 
Resistance to Reflect One’s Own Role 
No need to Hide Hostility 
Not All Women Cooperate 
Negativism and Low Interest About Gender Equality 
Resistance to Share Information 
Objections from a Female Researcher
Resistance from Academic Council 
Refusal to Engage with Gender Equality Project 
Science is an Elite Sport 
Refusal to Engage with Gender Equality Project 
Lack of Commitment to Gender Equality Work 
Mismatch of Gender Policy and Gender Reality 
Burned Out Woman 
Resistance from New Head of Department 
Participation in big events
Choose The Right Way to Communicate 
Official Communication To (Male - Dominated) Groups 
Reach Out to The Schools 
 
View Related Stories (GROUP)
 
Introduce Gender to High-Level Management 
Resistance against EU projects 
Fear of Feminism 
Standing in front of an “All is Well” – Wall 
Resistance from Academic Council 
Shooting the Messenger 
Science is an Elite Sport 
Lack of Interest/Resistance to Learning about Gender 
Low interest in Workshops 
When There’s no Benefit 
Convince People That On- The – Job Actions Are Needed 
Silence Speaks 
Reach Out to The Schools
PERSONAL / INSTITUTIONAL RESISTANCE
Resistance which occurs due to institutional culture or institution's legal or administrative procedures, is categorized as institutional resistance whereas the resistance which is associated with a person's/ position holder's particular motives, traits, sensitivities, etc. is considered personal. According to Mergaert and Lombardo (2014) the resistance exercised by an individual through his or her action or inaction is thus differentiated from the resistance that is revealed by a pattern of aggregated action or inaction that is systematically repeated and that suggests a collective orchestration against gender change. Institutions are establishments of individuals with personal (sometimes very specific) characteristics which can strongly influence the organization's policies and practices. The changes in position holders, as the case in point, may bring different perspectives or priorities to management effecting radically the life of whole organization, units or groups of people. 
 
View Related Stories 
 
No Funding For Gender Equality Work 
Delicate Matter of Sharing Information 
Mismatch of Gender Policy and Gender Reality 
 
    
Active/Passive Resistance
ACTIVE RESISTANCE: hostility, sexist humor, devaluation and disparaging women's accomplishments or professional commitment, interrupting, denial of access to resources, any other
PASSIVE RESISTANCE: negative body language, foot dragging, inertia, chilly climate, making the procedures more difficult, giving less attention, uncomfortable social atmosphere, giving less access to institutional resources, discomfort, inappropriate treatment, any other