Abstract
In the competition for a scarce number of (precarious) academic positions, recruitment and selection practices determine who get access to such positions. This chapter adds to the literature on gender in academic organisations by showing which gender practices characterise the recruitment and selection of early career researchers where judgements are based on potential. Our findings are based on a critical comparative analysis of empirical material on recruitment and selection procedures and criteria collected in SSH and STEM departments in six European higher education institutions. We uncover gender practices in the recruitment and selection of early career researchers throughout the six countries by showing how gatekeepers discursively construct recruitment and selection criteria. We illustrate how two general gender practices of welcoming women and assessing potential for excellence are conflated with multiple specific gender practices in the evaluation of early career researchers. We argue that most of the gender practices add to the precariousness of female early career researchers. Finally, we identify three discrepancies in the various criteria and their application.
