Readings and inspirations

Inspirational reading and other resources for female academics

Anne-Wil Harzing - Sat 31 Dec 2016 15:36 (updated Fri 24 Jun 2022 14:30)

On this page you'll find a curated collection of inspirational interviews, books, articles, stories, and blogposts around the general theme of gender in academia. On behalf of the CYGNA organizing team: enjoy!

Frontline IB interviews with female academics

Since January 2021 Ilgaz Arikan has been conducting interviews with senior scholars in the field of International Business in the Frontline IB Conversations series. The interviews are also available as podcasts on all services, including Spotify, Amazon, Google, Apple, Tune In, and iHeartRadio.

Here we collected all the interviews with female academics. In around 30 minutes, learn about about their personal backgrounds, their research, and their mentoring lessons for junior academics.

This little girl: stories by CYGNA members

This little girl is me is part of a campaign by Inspiring Girls International. Its aim is to raise young girls’ aspirations worldwide by encouraging women to share their childhood ambitions and inspire the next generation. Several of our CYGNA members have participated. I hope many more will follow. Remember you don't have to be a full professor to share your story. Even PhD students have important stories to tell. Girls might relate even more to those closer to them in age.

Doing research that matters

• Adler, N.J. (2008). I am my mother's daughter: early developmental influences on leadership. European Journal of International Management, 2(1): 6-21. Available online...
• Adler, N.J; Harzing, A.W. (2009). When Knowledge Wins: Transcending the sense and nonsense of academic rankings, The Academy of Management Learning & Education, 8(1): 72-95. Available online...
• Adler, N.J., & Hansen, H. (2012). Daring to Care Scholarship that Supports the Courage of Our Convictions. Journal of Management Inquiry, 21(2): 128-139. Available online...

Blogsposts on gender in academia

• How to hold on to your sanity in academia
• Female academics: Wives of the organization?
• How to prevent burn-out? About staying sane in academia
• Not a Post About Gender and Academia
• Would you ask a male academic the same question?
• Trailblazers of diversity: editors and editorial board diversity
• Gender and geographical diversity in the JIBS editorial board: an update
• We need a different kind of superhero: improving gender diversity in academia
• Why are there so few female Economics professors?
• Celebrating CYGNA: Supporting women in academia
• Wives of the organization - 30 years on...
• Links to 40+ blogposts documenting our CYGNA meetings

CYGNA on Twitter

We do not yet have a dedicated CYGNA twitter account, but some CYGNA members tweet about gender related issues at #cygna_london

Watch a brief video on CYGNA at my YouTube channel

Interviews with inspirational female academics

Interviews with a range of inspirational female academics, all of whom have combined doing research that matters with a stellar academic career.

• Kawamura, K.M.; Eisler, R. (2013). Leadership: An interview with Nancy Adler, PhD, Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal, 20(2). Request full-text from Researchgate.
• Kawamura, K.M. (2014). Kristine Marin Kawamura, PhD, interviews Susan E. Jackson, PhD, Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal, 21(2)
• Ke, J. (2011). An interview with Dr Anne Tsui, Motorola Professor of International Management: Part I – the scholarly journey. Journal of Chinese Human Resources Management, 2(2). Request full-text from Researchgate.
• Ke, J. (2011). An interview with Dr Anne Tsui, Motorola Professor of International Management: Part II – the scholarly journey.  Journal of Chinese Human Resources Management, 3(2): 151-159. Request full-text from Researchgate. 
• Moore, K. (2014). The life and times of a senior scholar: an interview with Jane Dutton, Journal of Management History, 20(2): 140-144.
• Tung, R. (2017). Prologue, Voyages of self-discovery: a reflection on four decades of research on expatriation and cross-cultural interactions, Progress in International Business Research (PIBR) Vol. 12: Distance in International Business: Concept, Cost and Value. Request full-text from Researchgate.
• Williams, Z. (2016). Mary Beard: "The role of the academic is to make everything less simple", The Guardian, 23 April 2016.
• Wilson, S. (2020). Not an academic, but certainly inspirational: Three reasons why Jacinda Ardern’s coronavirus response has been a masterclass in crisis leadership.

Interesting blogs, websites, books and articles

• Babcock, L.; Peyser, B.; Vesterlund, L.; Wingart, L. (2022) The No Club. Putting a Stop to Women's Dead-End Work. A revealing book about how women are unfairly burdened with "non-promotable work" and what women and organizations can do to change this.
• Devlin, M. (2021) Beating the Odds. A practical guide to navigating sexism in Australian universities. A spirited account about the barriers for female academics in Australian universities and what you can do to break through them.
• The Academic Woman. An international platform championing recognition, well-being and positive action for more female empowerment.
• Chamorro-Premuzic, T. ; Gallop, C. (2020). 7 Leadership Lessons Men Can Learn from Women, Harvard Business Review, 1 April 2020
• Feedback from CYGNA members on participating in the Aurora leadership programme, collated by Ling Zhang in this document.
• Academic men explain things to me, a blog about mansplaining in academia, hilarious and sad in equal measure. No longer seems to accept new postings, but there are 74 pages of posts to "enjoy".
• Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office: 101 Unconscious Mistakes Women Make That Sabotage Their Careers. About the many behaviors that women learn in girlhood that ultimately sabotage them as adults.
• Mayer, D. (2017). How Not to Advocate for a Woman at Work, Harvard Business Review, 17 July.
• Bahn, K. (2014). Faking It: Women, Academia, and Impostor Syndrome
• CYGNA member Daniela Lup's research: Becoming a Manager Increases Men’s Job Satisfaction, But Not Women’s
• 2018 Dossier Women in Economics dealing with the lack of senior female academics in the Netherlands.
• In 1000 words: #TimeIsUp, academics and organization studies, in which women share their experiences about working in academia. You can download the whole issue here, but I am hotlinking Steffi Siegert's contribution here as a pdf. Compulsory reading for any female academic.