Methodology

In order to analyse the experiences of academics in relation to academic capitalism, and thus of the SNI, we resorted to a qualitative phenomenological-interpretative methodology that recovered and analysed diverse meanings, perceptions, stories and experiences of full-time academic staff. The reasons for sticking to a phenomenological design are based precisely on what it provides to the social sciences. ^{Fuster (2019: 203)} points out that "the phenomenological approach of research arises as a response to the radicalism of the objective. It is based on the study of life experiences, regarding an event, from the perspective of the person".

The word phenomenology has its origin in the Greek term phainomenon, which means "to show oneself, to put in the light or manifest that can become visible in itself" ^{(Barbera and Inciarte, 2012: 201)} . Consequently, this work tried to reveal the experiences of academic staff about academic capitalism, through different techniques and put in the light or make visible what is not in statistics. To do this, it was essential to know the academic trajectories, as well as the personal and biographical aspects of the participants, to better understand their experience of academic capitalism in the context of Chiapas in southeastern Mexico.

The philosophy and central concepts of phenomenology (Husserl, Heidegger and Schutz) were the guidelines for following the proper procedure in this research. In this experience, the so-called hermeneutic phenomenology was resumed, considering the proposals of ^{Hernández et al. (2014)} and ^{Creswell (2014)} . Interpretation was prioritized, with the following activities: a) Define a phenomenon or research problem. b) Study and reflect on this. c) Discover essential categories and themes of the phenomenon. d) Describe it. e) Interpret it. The task of recovering the experiences could be performed through semi-structured interviews, which consider questions that explore biographical aspects and trajectories of those involved, so as not to lose sight of the particularities of the experience (including gender issues).

Gender perspective in social research

Although phenomenology delves into the subjectivity of people from their experiences. It is also true that it cannot be overlooked that these are crossed by gender. Therefore, adopting a gender perspective was an inescapable task from the first approaches to the field, while the subjective experience of academic capitalism clearly revealed the importance of considering this perspective to show the differences that arise between men and women within university life (public sphere) and those involving personal life (private sphere). Undoubtedly, the adoption of the gender perspective has been a good way to better explain the particularities of the experiences of academic women in relation to their participation in the SNI, within the framework of academic capitalism.

In this regard, it is necessary to reflect on how gender became a tool of analysis to understand inequalities between men and women. Categories such as gender are historically constructed; and although there may be some changes in that symbolization, it generally represents a subordination of women to men, which produces serious inequalities between men and women ^{(Lamas, 2016)} .

According to ^{Buquet (2011)} , the gender perspective can be involved in three areas: training, mainstreaming in the structure of the university, and research. Training processes must take place at all levels: students, academics and administrators. While mainstreaming implies that the entire structure is organized in a way that promotes gender equity. As for research is proposed that it should uncover gender inequalities. In addition to the above, ^{Buquet (2011)} reflects on the paradox that exists in many higher education institutions, where, on the one hand, the gender perspective is promoted and evidenced through feminist research. On the other hand, there is no willingness to make institutional changes to address inequality internally.

It is interesting to emphasize how gender-sensitive research is relevant to the university. ^{Biglia and Vergés-Bosch (2016)} explain that there is an important diversity of contributions that assume a gender perspective. Some turn to it in data analysis (as with this research) and others that incorporate it from the beginning of the investigative process. In the same sense, ^{González (2009)} proposes that gender studies have opened debates and paths for equity in the university, also addressing other social problems and serving "to unravel the pillars of discrimination" ^{(Buquet, 2011: 212)} .

Beyond the university, studies on gender inequalities are a fundamental basis for generating public policies that allow women a life free of violence and with more opportunities. For instance, the study of gender gaps forms a solid element of evidence that women and men must have equal opportunities in work, education, health empowerment and longevity, including the gaps in the SNI.

On the home page of the latest "Global Gender Gap Index 2020" report of the World Economic Forum (WEF), it states: "None of us will see gender parity in our lifetimes, and nor likely will many of our children […] the Global Gender Gap Report 2020, which reveals that gender parity will not be attained for 99.5 years" ^{(WEF, 2019)}. All this means that women continue to have fewer opportunities for political empowerment, and that there is also significant inequality in terms of economic participation and stable job opportunities. This is pointed out by ^{Lamas (2016)} , when she talks about the fact that women despite having increased their training and education, live a double day, a common problem in the narratives of the researchers who participated in this study.

Therefore, it was proposed to think about the importance of the gender perspective, as proposed by the "Methodological guide for gender awareness" of the National Institute of Women ^{(Inmujeres, 2008)} that such a perspective is a look that investigates and analyses how the values, practices, processes and subjectivity of men and women are constructed in society. In this sense, this paper considered indispensable not only to consider the experience of teachers, but to identify how these gender constructions determine certain inequalities in the area of university life (public sphere) and its importance to the private sector.

Techniques for collecting information

The task of recovering subjective experiences was carried out through semi-structured interviews, with broad and general questions, which, according to ^{Creswell (2014)} provided participants with greater opportunities to hear details about life and meanings they have or have socially constructed. The main topics explored were central elements of his biography, academic trajectories, organization for work individually and with colleagues, their work and personal relations, as well as the relationship of their working life with their personal life and the future of the university. Due to the health contingency that occurs since March 2020, the collection of information was virtual with the Zoom platform.

Participants

The research involved 5 male academics and 7 female academics from a public university in Chiapas, from academic units or faculties located in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Tapachula, Huehuetán and San Cristóbal de las Casas. The inclusion criteria were the following: to be full-time professors (regardless of the category), to have at least seven years working with the appointment of full-time within the university, have participated or participated in the Teacher Performance Stimulus Program (Teaching Career) and, preferably, be professors who have participated or participate in the SNI. However, for the purposes of this article, the analysis focuses on the experience of academics. These are 7 women with high academic productivity: 2 of them members of the SNI, 2 who did not endorse their permanence and 3 who have decided not to participate. Table 1 ⁴ summarizes socio-demographic aspects and the academic training of the participants.

Procedure

The stages that were carried out to achieve the objective of the study were: 1) Identification and contact with the participants, by creating a directory of professors who met the inclusion criteria and their subsequent invitation to participate via WhatsApp and e-mail; those who accepted the invitation determined the date and time for their interview; 2) the collection of information through interviews, which were immediately transcribed for feedback and monitoring compliance with the saturation criterion; 3) the information analysis stage was developed through the thematic analysis proposed by ^{Braun and Clark (2006)} , which included the following phases: data familiarization, information, initial code generation, search for topics, review of topics and their definition and denomination ^{(Mieles et al., 2012)} . Finally, 4) the drafting of the final report became concrete once the interpretation of the information collected in the light of theories was achieved. Undoubtedly, it was the most difficult moment because the stories of male and female academics are full of experiences that arise from their personal life and intersect with their university life, making a very diverse network of meanings and significances.

Ethical considerations

In social science research, ethical considerations must be maintained at all times in order to speak of a work of integrity, which respects the lives of individuals and human groups. Therefore, the informed consent form was presented in each Zoom interview, which explains the willingness to participate in the study, including a brief description of the study and its objectives, as well as the commitment to confidentiality and anonymity, and the authorization to record. In this case, all the participants agreed to be recorded in order to use the information in a way that is in keeping with their discourse, omitting names, easily identifiable personal data and details about the faculties where they collaborate because in some university communities, due to their size, it is easy to identify people or remember events shared among the members of the academic community.

Academics who were SNI: time to meditate on academic

This group of academics includes women professors who have already belonged to the system, but who are no longer interested in it. The two women researchers have at least 25 years of service and they are close to retirement. Although one of them has no children or economic dependents, both do care work at home and maintain high productivity. They have not stopped publishing articles and books and creating or coordinating research projects.

The main reason for not returning to being a member of the SNI is the time it takes to work. Again, the situation of the harmonization or reconciliation of work-life time cannot be ignored, since it is part of the experiences of women and, in this case, of female academics, as ^{Gamboa and Pérez (2017)} exposed, because time greatly determines the relationship that is established between these areas (family and work), whether it is a tense, harmonious or challenging relationship.

For instance, a professor interviewed explained that for personal reasons (care work) she did not have the same work rhythm and could not endorse the SNI. She mentioned that although she might try to do it again, she was assessing some family issues. The second academic said that the SNI demands sacrifices or entails the neglect of certain aspects of life:

At the end of the day, the SNI profile for me after all this that I have meditated on my retirement is not worth it. The SNI is not worth it. It is like an ideal, a utopia of higher education institutions, but I feel that to be SNI, you neglect teaching, and you neglect the family, and I was not going to sacrifice neither teaching nor family to be SNI, then I decided not (Elena, 55 years old, university academic, in interview on April 20 ^th, 2021).

That is, the work of care and the fact of having to choose between one or other activities that pertain to academic life are repeated reasons for not being a member of the SNI. ^{Cárdenas (2019)} argues that this situation is common for all women researchers, as women academics spend more time to their families than their academic peers. ^{Baeza (2017)} has conducted research where it is exposed that conciliation can be complicated in the case of women who are engaged in academia. Hence, during the pandemic scientific productivity statistics have benefited academics ^{(Bustelo et al., 2021)} .

Similarly, it reflects on how the system can greatly stress those who participate in it. Feeling constantly "appraised," evaluated, and sometimes unappreciated, it makes them unwilling to continue. During the confinement and online classes, both professors expressed dismay at how overworked they were and how this also contributed to confirming that they did not want to join the SNI.

I was there for three years, and then, for personal reasons I admit that I could not dedicate the time required because it is true, it requires a lot of dedication, it is an interesting recognition, but it is a tax, huh? I mean, if you dedicate time to this, if you are productive, if you do research, in a nutshell, ok, I put you in another step. So, for personal reasons, I could not dedicate all my time to it, so after three years, I could not endorse my recognition. I am honest with you, at one point I said... ah! What a relaxation because it is something that stresses. It is an activity that needs to dedicate time to and organize your activities very well so that, in addition to giving classes, in addition to supporting academic activities, you dedicate time to research, but it also worsened with the pandemic (Ángeles, university academic, 53 years old, in interview on December 22^nd, 2020).

In the project developed in Spain and called "Inequalities uncovered in the university due to the COVID-19 crisis. Gender impact on working conditions, time use and academic performance at UCM", by ^{Bustelo et al. (2021)} , it was revealed that female academics had less participation in research and other activities because during the confinement they duplicated their domestic tasks and worked in unfavourable conditions for the space where they lived with their families.

In the same vein, ^{Benavides et al. (2021)} assert that the trajectory of women scientists has been put at risk by the Covid-19 pandemic, which led them to play a double role: the care of children at home and the work of their investigations also at home. This was clearly reflected in their productivity.

Otherwise, the participating academics are close to retirement, and it is possible that now their experiences and broad knowledge of the system and the university will allow them to determine more easily what they want to do and not what they "need" to do to remain current as researchers.

Often at this stage of life and of their careers, female academics have children who are older or who do not require personalized attention, as shown in the study by ^{Caldera et al. (2019: 51)} , in which it is mentioned that the older the age of female academics, the greater the possibilities of climbing in the SNI: "The age factor is important to enter the SNI because it is associated with experience, and the years give experience, but it is also related to the various tasks that one has such as raising children". ^{Caldera et al. (2019)} intuit that those researchers who are mothers and who have many years of working at the university have older children who do not demand as much work for them. However, despite this apparent age advantage, the female academics interviewed have decided not to re-enter the SNI to attend to their personal life issues.

Being and staying in the SNI: from the PhD to direct competition at the university

In relation to female professors who are part of the SNI and who have remained for at least two consecutive evaluations, common themes already mentioned can be identified: the serious problem of time management in the face of the demand of activities to perform as full time and as SNI members versus the sacrifices this implies in their personal lives, called work-life balance ^{(Buquet et al., 2014}; ^{Baeza, 2017}. ^{Hernández and Ibarra, 2019)} , how complicated it can be to fill out the curriculum within the platform (as a bureaucratic process) and the affectations brought about by confinement and online work during the Covid-19 pandemic ^{(Bustelo et al., 2021)} .

Firstly, it is important to take up the issue of age, since these academics are the youngest (40 and 47 years of age), and with respect to their years of service, they are also the ones with the shortest time in the university as full time. Entering the SNI was a natural step after their doctoral studies, since they could dedicate themselves completely to research and publication. It is in this training process that, in fact, they find the origins of their academic productivity already with a view to joining the SNI.

This is also considered by ^{Díaz (2020)} when he analyses the academic careers of the Autonomous University of Queretaro and he establishes that a common characteristic among SNI women is the strong influence of their doctoral training, postdoctoral, research stays and other studies they have had before entering the system. But not all female academics have been able to enter the SNI after the doctorate, as proposed by ^{Villegas and Mendoza-Zuany (2015)} since they consider that many female academics do not obtain the degree immediately and they are not full-time professors (as required in years prior to 2023). Therefore, an imaginary can be constructed about this situation that does not necessarily apply to all female professors.

In addition to these similarities, these researchers expressed their concern about the conditions in which they must work, since it is difficult to work collaboratively in an environment of individual competition, male chauvinist environments and where they must perform many academic activities at the same time. Individualized work is prioritized. The possibilities of working collaboratively are left aside, and even, the possibility of carrying out unethical acts is opened, as described by ^{Rojas (2017)} when criticizing the various ways in which this competitive environment harms female academics, who can live a kind of erasure through what Rojas (2017: 115) named "rhetoric of belittlement".

However, ^{Hernández et al. (2019)} consider that in any incentive program there cannot be equality, and that both men and women who are part of that selected group (as the authors consider to be the SNI) will try to stay in that space, even performing acts that are not congruent with what the system promotes.

Nevertheless, there are still possibilities of reversing this situation, at least from the point of view of some female academics, who choose to think of themselves differently despite the tendency to individualism:

It is complicated, but it is possible. I learned this precisely from my political activism. If we do not do collegiate work, if we do not take care of each other and we do not support each other so that not only one is SNI, but all are SNI. If you do not have this logic, we will be stained by the blight. So, precisely because of the conditions we need to build. Really, we are very few but I can tell you that I have colleagues both in Social Anthropology and in the academic staff that support each other to the extent of our possibilities (Marysol, 47 years old, university academic, interviewed on May 7 ^th, 2021).

This hope of working in sorority ^{(Lagarde, 2009: 2)} involves recognizing that the experiences of women can benefit all: "Together we are building a model because from the experience of one woman we all benefit. Although we may not even know it, the changes we make in our lives have been taken from others". But above all, work to build something that was called "political pact" ^{(Lagarde, 2009)} among women, which implies horizontality and equity.

Moreover, it is important to note that burnout is a recurring factor. Women professors recognize the ravages that work demands cause to their bodies and minds. Additionally, on most occasions rest or vacation times are used to continue working on SNI issues, reducing their possibilities for self-care. ^{Díaz (2020)} alludes to the lack of time to rest, in the sense that female researchers have learned to work without schedules, weekends or vacations, with workdays of up to 60 hours on average. According to ^{Díaz (2020)}, female academics put their self-care routines, spending time with their loved ones, and even household chores in a secondary place.

As a consequence, the diseases they have presented are completely associated with overwork and stress, as Mayté manifests when she talks about the symptoms and signs of burnout syndrome, a disorder that has also been the reason for research ^{(Cruz et al., 2013}; ^{Aarun and Herrera, 2018)} .

Now, I have all the symptoms of a burnt-out professor just like that! [she says emphatically]. I decided to rest, I said, I have to rest, I can't, I can't demand more of myself physically. I'm not ready for any more right now, no way. It is the year in which I really did nothing, like a blank, but I said, it is necessary because I said: my health is at risk and what is the point of staying awake, why you have to stay awake a lot to write something, you have to sacrifice a lot of time and I said: I do not feel capable, but I renewed it. In 2018 I think it was, and then they gave me level one (Mayté, 43 years old, university academic, interviewed on March 30 ^th, 2021).

Furthermore, receiving an economic compensation from the SNI represents for some female academics the possibility of owning their own home, as expressed by Marysol, who is responsible for paying the mortgage and college tuition for her eldest son:

And above all, for example... well, I have colleagues who do have two salaries, even more things, but when you depend only on your salary, you have a mortgage on your house, no... and you have a child studying at the university. I mean, the truth is that this is when you say: oh well, how hard it is! I completely understand. It is not just what you say. There is the prestige of all that, but we really depend on that income, don't we?... Women like me (Marisol, 47 years old, university academic, interviewed on May 7 ^th, 2021).

Finally, it is important to point out that membership in the SNI represents for some researchers the possibility of having a better livelihood. An example of this is Mayté, who considers that the resources provided by being a member of the system are the support she needs to stay active and to have support in her research: from the opportunity to have an assistant to cover the expenses generated by the projects, which cannot be covered by her salary:

These resources are used to buy our books, to make those expenses for research, for thesis advising, for thesis, for accompaniment that we have to do with the student. There are also expenses there, the congresses that do not pay us. But if you go to a congress to another state, for hotel, airplane and others, I spend what I earn in two weeks... (Mayté, 43 years old, university academic, interviewed on March 30 ^th, 2021).

However, due to the fact that the figures do not favor female researchers in relation to their income, permanence and promotion in the SNI, it could be said that the resources end up circulating among those researchers who may have more possibilities to do so, because their conditions allow it. In a study about gender equity in research, ^{Cárdenas (2019)} analyses the dynamics and he makes visible this problematic about the resources in the hands of some academics within the Red Medio Ambiente (REMA) [Environment Network] of the Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN) [National Polytechnic Institute], and he points out that "institutional policies of resource allocation do not favor collaborative work among researchers and neither gender equity, since the greatest amount of resources benefits the researchers with the highest productivity" ^{(Cárdenas, 2019: 30)}. This fuels a kind of cycle of inequalities between male and female academics that we present here.