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WOMEN IN THE SCIENTIFIC ELITE
In particular, this is due to the fact that there can be further overlaps beside
the prototypes, as well as the specific subdivisions (called gender identity
subgroups).?"! Namely, they have established that a) a strong identification with
feminists, i.e. the politicised attitude (which can present itself in the attitude
towards positive discrimination as well) does not always exclude femininity.
(As opposed to how the same appears with the “progressive identifier” group
of Becker and Wagner.) They have also pointed out that b) strongly identifying
with the cluster of women and being sensitive toward their social status does
not automatically strengthen the politicised attitude. Their quantitative sam¬
ple shows on the other hand that c) critical attitude toward gender stereotypes
can mostly be observed among feminists, in particular those not identifying
with women.?® These finer overlaps have been completely left out of the GIM
model of Becker and Wagner.
To summarise the above, we can first speak about belonging to the female
gender and about femininity (womanliness) as a fundamentally social construct,
and secondly about identifying with the cluster of women as well as a certain,
politicised identity which is covered by the terms feminism and feminist. We
can furthermore distinguish four clearly separate groups in both approaches.
The survey carried out by Van Breen and associates points out, however, that
the two key dimensions are not as clearly separated from each other as the
model of Becker and Wagner would suggest. The primary question is therefore:
what is the relative relationship between personal identity and the identifica¬
tion with the cluster of women and/or feminists, the traditional and the pro¬
gressive end of the spectrum in my own sample? In other words, we are asking
how the “traditional” models mentioned above appear in a group that can be
considered homogenous at first sight.
RESULTS: RELATION TOWARDS THE WOMAN QUOTA
Identification with the cluster of women can in the current sample be observed
most significantly in the attitude toward the means applicable (or to be applied)
in order to raise the number of female academicians, the woman quota (this
can be discerned from the identification with feminists as well). As previ¬
ously mentioned, this does not mean that those who are not supportive of
positive discrimination do not identify with the cluster of women or feminists
at all, merely that the group identity presents itself more explicitly with those
arguing for the woman quota. This is why I first split the subjects of this re¬
search into two groups from the perspective of whether they act collectively
261 These overlaps can be influenced by a number of other factors, the most characteristic one
being culture or the social-economic context, as well as personal life experience.
62 Van Breen et al.: A Multiple Identity, 19.
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