Quitting Academia: Gendered Pathways out of the Academy and What Institutions Refuse to Learn

The seminar draws from the recent book Anna M. Górska wrote on why, how and what happens after academics leave academia. Rather than attributing exists to individual shortcomings or isolated burnout, Anna traces patterns of structural harm: the neoliberalisation of universities, increasing competitiveness and toxic culture.

The exits described by her study participants are not abrupt exits but slow disentanglements, shaped by exhaustion, disillusionment, and an eventual reclamation of agency.

During this session Anna will focus on the major findings of the book which reframes quitting and positions it not as failure, but as a form of resistance. She will argue that if universities are serious about equity and retention, they must confront not only the metrics that govern academic labour but the masculinist norms that undergird them.