The Journal of Gender Research: Open issue
This issue of the Journal of Gender Research, the last of the year, contains two scientific articles and one debate article. The first article is about how female associate professors rethink and reorient their work after periods of sick leave, including considerations around identity, professional environment and values, emotions and moral dilemmas. The second addresses the topic of sexual harassment in the Norwegian police force, why sexual harassment persists and how different understandings of sexual harassment can influence measures aimed precisely at prevention. The debate article is concerned with how power, representation and democracy have an impact on who is allowed to participate and shape the social debate, and whose voice is understood as legitimate in the public space.
DOI: 10.18261/issn.1891-1781
Abstracts
The relationship to, and reorientation of, female associate professors’ work after sick leave
By Tale Steen-Johnsen, Hanne Haaland, May-Linda Magnussen, and Hege Wallevik.
In this article, we examine how a group of female associate professors perceive and reorient their work after periods of sick leave. The research question of the study is: how do female associate professors renegotiate their relationship to work under and after having been on sick leave? The study is based on interviews with seven associate professors at a young Norwegian university and utilizes Lauren Berlant’s theory of cruel optimism as a sensitizing concept to understand the experiences of these academics. We find that sick leave is perceived as an existential experience which forces the participants to find new ways to balance work and health. Following such an experience, the study’s participants prioritize values they themselves find important in their work and seek support from colleagues by showing authenticity and vulnerability, and we label this process “reorientation”. After such reorientation the participants emphasize teaching and student interaction, as well as a critical stance towards publishing and research visibility. These are values that some of the informants perceive are not acknowledged among high-ranking goals in the university. Our informants describe this as hard and sometimes existential work. We show that processes of reorientation might be threatened by moral afflictions and lack of support from management. This study renders visible reorientation as part of the relationship to work after sick leave in academia. The research presented here also provides insights into what gender might mean in academia and contributes to a discussion about whether women more often have to negotiate their working conditions in ways that men do not experience to the same extent.
Keywords: sick leave, reorientation, academia, “cruel optimism”, the neoliberal university
“That’s Not Sexual Harassment, Is It?”: How Understandings of Sexual Harassment Impact Intervention Work
By Brita Bjørkelo, Malin Wieslander, Ulla-Carin Hedin, Linda Lane, Kristian Stampe Nielsen, Anniken Grønstad, and Eva Gemzøe Mikkelsen.
Sexual harassment (SH) is commonly categorized into gender harassment, unwanted sexual attention, and sexual coercion, and can be understood as part of a broader continuum of violence often experienced by women. To better understand why SH persists, this study examines how perceptions of SH influence organizational interventions, using data from the Norwegian Police Service since 2016. Findings show that behaviors such as unwanted hugging and touching—classified as gender harassment—are not always recognized as SH by those affected or by those designing interventions. Moreover, interventions often focused on individuals rather than addressing group or organizational dynamics. These results underscore the importance of contextualizing SH as a shared workplace concern and developing more holistic intervention narratives.
Keywords: sexual harassment, understanding, intervention, harassed, harasser, bystander, police, women
Gender and Representation in Norwegian Media
By Guro Lindebjerg, Malene Augestad, and Ragnhild-Marie Nerheim.
This article examines the gender and diversity balance in Norwegian news media, based on a quantitative analysis conducted by Retriever for the Fritt Ord Foundation. The dataset includes 8 000 editorial articles published in 2024 and 11 500 identified spokespersons. The findings reveal a pronounced imbalance: men dominate as both news sources and authors, and this dominance increases with age. Women and people with non-Nordic names are underrepresented, especially in positions of authority such as senior managers, lawyers, and commentators. Conversely, female and younger journalists are more likely to include female and younger sources, while journalists with non-Nordic names tend to cite more diverse sources. The article argues that newsroom diversity fosters more inclusive coverage, and that gender and representational balance is not merely a matter of equality, but a democratic necessity that sustains media legitimacy and public trust.
Keywords: media, gender, representation, diversity, journalism, democracy, trust
Read the full issue at Scandinavian University Press (scup.com)