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Mahwish Sikander

Mahwish Sikander

Email: m.sikander@qmul.ac.uk

Project description

Mahwish’s doctoral research explores the lived experiences of women of colour academics, focusing on how these experiences shape their perceptions of work and career progression within academia. Using a mixed-methods qualitative approach grounded in a post-racial theoretical framework, the study investigates the intersecting impact of race and gender on their professional trajectories. Central to the research is an analysis of the institutional and systemic barriers that hinder career advancement, such as exclusionary practices, implicit bias, lack of mentorship, precarious employment, and the marginalisation of their scholarship. These structures not only constrain opportunities but also govern women of colour affectively, shaping their emotional and psychological experiences within the academy through feelings of isolation, hypervisibility, and pressure to overperform. Alongside these lived experiences, the study critically examines university equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) initiatives through the perspectives of EDI personnel, highlighting the disjuncture between institutional commitments and the everyday realities faced by women of colour in academic spaces.

Supervision

1st Supervisor: Dr Sadhvi Dar
2nd Supervisor: Professor Yasmin Ibrahim

Biography

Mahwish Sikander completed her PhD from Queen Mary’s School of Business and Management. Her research background is in Organisational Behaviour, Employee Relations and Critical Management Studies. Her past research work is linked to careerism, emotions, perceived politics in organisations and organisational justice.

Centre and Group Membership

Publications

  • Sikander, M. (2022). Workplace violence and ethnic minorities: A study of intersectional experiences of women of colour academics in UK. Paper presented in Gender, Work and Organisation Conference ‘A (De)Colonial View Beyond the Borders’, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia and Universidad Santo Tomas, Bogotá, Colombia.
  • Sikander, M. (2021). Surviving whiteness: The experiences of women of colour academics from black feminist theory perspective. Paper presented in 12th International Critical Management Studies Conference, BML Munjal University, India.
  • Fatima, T., Choudhry, M. A., & Jahanzeb, S. (2017). Careerism, politics, and strategic emotional display. Theory of planned behaviour perspective. Paper accepted in 77th Annual Academy of Management Conference, Atlanta, Georgia.
  • Choudhry, M. A., Batool, N., & Shaukat, A. (2017). Does organizational justice really matter? An empirical study to find out the impact of distributive, procedural, & interactional justice on OCBO and OCBI by mediating the relations with impersonal and interpersonal trust. Paper presented at 20th National Conference on Aligning Business with Sustainable Development Challenges and Responsibilities for the Industry. Szabist University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
  • Choudhry, M. A. & Fatima, T. (2016). Impact of careerism on career success and power. Moderating role of organizational politics. Paper presented at International Conference on Business and Management Perspective in the Asian Context: Challenges and Prospects. University of Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan.
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