The dispossessed
Gendered challenges of postcolonial and neoliberal academia in Central and Eastern Europe
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 24231670 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Anna Maria Górska (0000-0003-3406-5454, Human Resources Management, Kozminski University) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-20 |
| Publication date | 2026-01-06 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Equal Opportunities International (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1758-7093 • E-ISSN: 2040-7149 |
| Publisher | Emerald (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1108/edi-04-2025-0282 |
| OpenAlex | W7118083424 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 51 |
Purpose This study examines how women academics on business and management faculties in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) narrate their professional experiences of intersecting neoliberal and postcolonial pressures. It focuses on how they make sense of market-driven logics and Western-dominated standards, and how these are narrated as (re)producing gendered marginalisation within their institutions. Rather than mapping the whole of “CEE academia”, the article offers a situated, narrative-based account of how these conditions are experienced and articulated by women on faculties of business and management. Design/methodology/approach The research draws on 53 narrative interviews with women faculty members in business schools and management across several CEE countries. It adopts a feminist, interpretive approach and applies a “writing differently” methodology to foreground situated lived experience rather than to offer statistically generalisable claims. Findings Women academics in CEE describe what I conceptualise as academic dispossession: the material (workload, resources), symbolic (recognition, status) and epistemic (valuation of knowledge) marginalisation of their labour and contributions. Neoliberal performance metrics prioritise narrowly defined research outputs while undervaluing teaching and service. Postcolonial legacies reinforce epistemic hierarchies that devalue local knowledge and non-Anglophone voices. In the narratives, these forces intersect to constrain research possibilities, recognition and career progression. Research limitations/implications This regionally focused and qualitative study contributes conceptual insights that can inform future research across other “peripheral” academic systems. Further comparative or longitudinal studies are recommended to deepen the understanding of systemic inequalities. Social implications The findings emphasise the need for structural reforms that challenge both metric-driven governance and epistemic colonialism. Supporting alternative evaluative systems and feminist academic cultures may foster greater equity and inclusion in CEE higher education. Originality/value This paper develops the concept of academic dispossession as a three-dimensional (material, symbolic and epistemic) framework for capturing the compounded effects of neoliberalism and postcolonialism on women academics in CEE business schools. It contributes to critical organisational studies by theorising how global academic regimes marginalise scholars in “peripheral” regions and by applying a postcolonial and regionally grounded perspective to Acker's (1990) theory of gendered organisations.
business schools · Central and Eastern Europe · epistemic colonialism · gendered organizations · higher education equity · management faculty · neoliberalism in higher education · Postcolonialism · research metrics · women academics · Decolonial Thought and Epistemologies · Gender Diversity and Inequality · Higher Education Governance and Development
East Central Europe Between the Colonial and the Postcolonial in the Twentieth Century
It’s a Bittersweet Symphony, this Life
What’s in a Name
Neo-Liberalism and Marketisation
The imagined and the real
Writing differently
Women are credited less in science than men
Gender Bias in Teaching Evaluations
Being an Early-Career CMS Academic in the Context of Insecurity and ‘Excellence’
Gender practices in the construction of academic excellence
The Politics of Gender after Socialism
Understanding social change through post‐colonial theory
Creating Status of Women Reports
The bureaucratic distortion of academic work
Differences Between Women? Intersecting Voices in a Female Narrative
Agents for Change and Changed Agents
Deepening inequalities
The Thin End of the Wedge
Troubling intra-actions
Women Are Teachers, Men Are Professors
Ethos at stake
Workplace accentism as a postcolonial and intersectional phenomenon
Careering through academia
Rethinking Texts
The Institutional Logics Perspective
Robotic Bureaucracy
Considerations on Mainstreaming Intersectionality
Stories of Experience and Narrative Inquiry
Hierarchies, Jobs, Bodies
If You're So Smart, Why Are You under Surveillance? Universities, Neoliberalism, and New Public Management
| Highly cited | No |
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