Challenges in Career Development for Women Academics: A Case Study of a First-Tier University in Mainland China

Women academics globally face various kinds of obstacles in their career development. In China, strong traditional gender role expectations and male domination in leadership particularly increase the difficulties they encounter. In this study, we employed a qualitative method to interview 16 women academics at a first-tier university in Mainland China. Our study observed that, first, the formal rules superficially and rhetorically present equal opportunities for men and women but there is a lack of supportive measures to help alleviate women academics’ pressure. Second, regarding resources and activities, women academics shoulder more teaching and services work. Women dare not say no to insignificant service work due to their insufficient publications and immobility. Third, the substantial inequality is produced and reproduced in the practices of informal rules and informal communication. Though the formal rules offer superficial equal opportunities, women academics in China face tremendous unequal treatment through implicit informal rules and informal communication that affect their resources and activities.