Bullying and survival in academia: is the female-female divide bigger than the male-female divide?

For those vets working in academia, the priorities between teaching, research and running clinics have always been hard to balance. Universities tend to swing between putting research first when the Research Excellence Framework (or, Research Assessment Exercise, as it used to be known), is on the horizon; and then swing in the opposite direction when the Teaching Excellence Framework (formerly, Teaching Quality Exercise), becomes the focus. Despite teaching bringing in the far greater income, “research”, however, remains the measure of a University’s excellence; and despite what most mission statements say, research lies at the heart of the ‘measured’ success/prowess of a university and drives HEFCE funding allocations.

So how does a vet, employed as an academic, fulfil obligations to perform research to the highest standard, attracting multi-million pound grants on a regular basis, yet simultaneously maintain a clinical commitment, usually with an out-of-hours on-call requirement, and all this with a heavy teaching load? There is no simple answer, as most of us aren’t Superman or Wonder woman. And for some, their mere survival in academia is fraught with jealousies, back-stabbing and plagiarism. If there’s one thing for certain, you need eyes in the back of your head and a very very thick skin to survive and thrive in academia. There is no room for sensitivities; and not much for high morals or a conscience! Those that climb the academic ladder tend to assure their position by trampling on those around them, usually after using them as leverage. And once at the top, most will then withdraw the ladder, effectively stopping others joining them. The Hubris syndrome is common indeed and bullying, from the top-down, is rife, despite most institutions having ‘policies’ to supposedly guard against such behaviour.

Although the press is full of woe regarding the male-female divide in terms of wages, most universities don’t do so badly on that front, especially those applying for Athena Swan recognition – but there’s still room for improvement as there are still fewer women in the highest positions than men. However, the most noticeable battles, and usually of the bullying type, appear to be between women, especially between those at the top and those aspiring for promotion. It seems such a shame that after fighting for equality in the work place with their male colleagues, women seem to be fighting most amongst themselves. Perhaps now is the time that they should take heed of this, examine themselves in the mirror, and stop the bullying?