Unpacking gendered aspects of employment precarity in the UK academia

Non-standard employment is becoming increasingly prevalent in UK academia, as tenured opportunities diminish, and university employment practices adapt to a changeable and commercialised labour market. However, little is known about gendered aspects of UK precariat. This study analyses HESA data for the six-year period, from 2014/2015 to 2019/2020 academic years, to track distribution of part-time, fixed-term, hourly-paid and zero-hours employment among university staff of different seniority levels and academic employment functions. Data shows that, during the considered period, there was no rise of part-time employment in UK academia for the considered period. Part-time employment is prevalent among male academics in senior positions, and among female academics in non-senior positions. Regarding the term of employment, the proportion of males employed full-time and on a fixed-term basis is higher than that for females. This trend is consistent for the whole considered period. Yet it can be noticed that the proportion of males employed on such contracts has slightly decreased, whilst the proportion of females working full-time on fixed-term conditions increased. Approximately the same number of academics of both genders, working both full-time and part-time, employed on hourly paid basis.The study findings suggest that, despite the dominant discourse that female academics are more affected by precariat, the nuanced analysis of the HESA data shows that non-standard employment is widespread for both genders, and its spread is not even among academics of various levels of seniority and academic functions, and across different contract terms and modes.