I discuss the gatekeeping process in the recruitment
for professorial positions. In a
closed recruitment system, which is getting
more common in the Netherlands, it is crucial
to be invited to apply directly, or have
connections with people in the network of
scouts. Scouts have a gatekeeping position
as they control the information flow and access
to the vacant positions; they determine
which candidates are nominated. My central
question is how gender is practiced in the
gatekeeping process. I draw upon feminist
constructivism and organizational network
theory to show how gatekeepers influence
the persistence or (re)production of gender
inequality in academia. Three gendered practices
are distinguished, two of which occur in
‘regular’ appointment procedures which lead
to disadvantages for women applicants by
men mobilizing masculinities in homophilous
networks. In the third process, gatekeepers
explicitly search for women to appoint on a
chair in the framework of special women’s
programs or affirmative action. Gatekeeping
processes can therefore be exclusionary, as
well as facilitate opportunities.