The GARCIA project gendering the academy and research

Nowadays there is a wider debate about the early stages of scientific careers. Young researchers are facing growing demands within Academia and Research, such as a loss of autonomy over time management, increasingly working on short-term projects and growing time pressure. The increased flexibility within the labour market, the processes of commodification and the decrease of resources invested in research and development have altered the management of human resources also within universities and research centres[1]. As widely shown by previous studies[2], such phenomena are characterized by deep generation and gender differences and the scientific labour market is not an exception[3]. Female researchers at the early stages of their scientific careers, in European countries but also in the United States, are often in precarious positions, either occupying part-time jobs or fixed-term research contracts. Furthermore, the traits defining the academic environment in knowledge societies seem altogether antagonistic with the possibility for young researchers to dedicate their time to their social, family and private life