Managing the Unwanted: An Application of Dispositional Analysis on the Athena SWAN Initiative in UK Business Schools

ABSTRACT The Athena SWAN initiative proposes to address gender equality and diversity (E&D) in higher education settings. This research examines how Athena SWAN is organized as a means of controlling gender E&D in the context of UK Business Schools. It involves deductive thematic analysis of secondary (Athena SWAN applications) and primary data (semi‐structured interviews). Through the lens of dispositional analysis, we explore the interplay between Foucault's dispositive modalities of law, discipline and dispositives of security involved in the Athena SWAN initiative. We find significant problems in the way these modalities interact with Athena SWAN. There is often a disconnection between the individual, departmental and institutional motivations that affect disciplinary mechanisms, such as the self‐evaluation conducted by the self‐assessment team (SAT). Strategic decisions are typically centralized at the university level, emphasizing achieving optimal levels of inequality comparable with the sector which is in line with accreditations, rankings and funding requirements. This often leads to problems related to a lack of control and clear accountability procedures. The results of this study suggest that Athena SWAN creates a space for self‐governing and visibility of gender E&D practices. However, without legal structures there has been limited progress in advancing this agenda because discipline and security take over by establishing a new “normative” level based on optimization. Legal structures can destabilize the “normative” optimum level of current E&D practices, opening new possibilities for discipline to prevent the unwanted.