Gender-based analysis of the accumulated disadvantages of researchers in the processes of knowledge production in Mexico

Abstract

This article aims to analyze under the gender lens the perception of full-time researchers who are part of the National System of Researchers (SNI by its acronym in Spanish, Sistema Nacional de Investigadores). The texts focus on the conditions that impact on the production of knowledge and academic freedom in two university contexts in Mexico, with the purpose of demonstrating the disadvantages that the sociocultural patterns of the sex-gender system imply for the work and performance of the women researchers; in addition to certify if these can be elements that avoid breaking with the glass ceiling in educational institutions, and reach the desired family conciliation. The empirical analysis results from a research entitled “Academic freedom and the conditions of collective production and mobilization of knowledge of researchers”, which involved 25 interviews in two Mexican Public Higher Education Institutions: the University of Guadalajara (U of G) and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Both are part of the rainking that evaluate the best Higher Education Institutions in Latin America.